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'The Four Elements: Water. A Fish Market with the Miraculous Draught of Fishes in the Background', 1569
by Joachim Beuckelaer
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Twelve different varieties of fish have been identified among those offered for sale here. The direct gaze of the stallholders inviting the viewer into the painting is particularly striking, as is Beuckelaer's use of steep perspective in the street vista to the left. Framed by the central arch is the scene of Christ appearing to the disciples, for the third time after his Resurrection, to perform the miracle in which fish appear in previously empty nets.
This is one of four pictures which takes as its theme the four elements of Earth, Water, Air and Fire. In the art of the Low Countries in the later 16th and 17th centuries it became common to symbolise the elements by references to the natural world. Here, seductive representations of market produce for sale or for cooking are combined with relevant Biblical episodes. Beuckelaer's series of paintings are among the earliest and most accomplished fusions of these themes. These four pictures were produced in Antwerp, probably for a patron in Italy.
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Photo © The National Gallery, London
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