Still Life with Meat, Fish, Vegetables and Fruit, Jacob van Hulsdonck
Jacob van Hulsdonck depicted a colorful array of foods, and tablewares ranging from an earthenware trencher to delicate Chinese porcelain—an expensive luxury made possible by international trade. For seventeenth-century viewers, the quantity and variety of foods would have represented a utopian world without scarcity or hunger. Partially eaten food and an overturned glass suggest that diners have just departed, leaving insects to explore the remains.
Hulsdonck thoughtfully included condiments here: butter, lemon, parsley for the trotters, and a dab of mustard for the ham.
Discover more Old Masters in the following collections: