#4 ELEMENTS OF NATURE SKETH MANUAL#

The woman in red was painted from a model he frequently used – she also appears in The Four Elements: Water and The Four Elements: Fire, where she wears the same red jacket.

He often reused people, objects and elements in different pictures, although he rarely repeated them exactly. Joachim Beuckelaer specialised in market and kitchen scenes with elaborate displays of food. They are passing in front of a building which seems to be decorated with a classical statue in a niche, perhaps one of the idols of Egypt that fell from their pedestals as the infant Christ went by. Here you can see the Flight into Egypt, with the holy family crossing a bridge on the left. In the background of all four are biblical scenes. This is one of a group of four large paintings where food is used to symbolise the four elements – earth, air, water and fire. They have pulled up water from the well in the bucket which hangs over its side, and wash their vegetables in the stone basin beside the well before putting them on display. The sellers are probably the the couple on the right, who seem to have brought their produce to the well in a wheelbarrow and are preparing it for sale. The one in red has half-filled her shopping basket with apples, while her companion holds up a giant cabbage for inspection.

#4 ELEMENTS OF NATURE SKETH MANUAL#

Their rolled up sleeves and aprons show that they are servants who do manual work. The two women at the front, often called stallholders, appear to be buying rather than selling. At the top are two earthenware dishes, one containing strawberries, the other mulberries. On the right a mix of vegetables and glistening fruits are piled in baskets and bowls balanced rather precariously on a wheelbarrow: at the front are a cauliflower trimmed of its outer leaves, apples and pea-pods on other trays are green and purple grapes, peaches and plums, pears, cherries and gooseberries. On the left is a tower of baskets containing pink and orange carrots, two marrows, several gherkins or cucumbers, two white radishes and a bunch of shallots, pink and white cabbages, melons and artichokes. An avalanche of outsize vegetables tumbles towards us on the left of this painting, as if we, like the women in the foreground, are prospective customers.

4 elements of nature sketh