A peasant couple standing by a market stall laden with fruits and vegetables

The market piece was developed in Antwerp by the Amsterdam born painter Pieter Aertsen, who lived in that city between 1535 and 1555. He showed that everyday things are worthy of representation and he was even bold enough to paint these so-called vulgar subjects on a monumental scale, which was until then only reserved for religious and historical subjects. As pointed out by I. Bergström, Dutch 17th century Still Life Painting, 1957, the market piece was the ultimate result of mannerism. The accessories which traditionally play a subordinate part in the representation of a Biblical motif became quantitatively the main content. After Aertsen had left for Amsterdam in 1555, his pupil Joachim de Beuckelaer continued to work with Aertsen's inventions and his market pieces were very popular. This popularity is demonstrated in the present picture of where the composition is related to Beuckelaer's painting of 1563 in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Valenciennes, inv.n^. 65.5.1 (Joachim de Beuckelaer, p.116, n^.2, with ill.) of which a smaller version of 1564 is in the Museum of Kassel (op.cit., p.116, fig.1).
The couple is taken from Beuckelaer's couple at a fish stall in the Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples (op.cit., p.4, n^.4, with ill.). On the basis of the monogram the present picture has tentatively been attributed to Magdalena Pietersdr., wife of Pieter Pietersz by Gudlaugsson on a photograph in the RKD.
A copy after the present lot is recorded in the RKD.