Gun Dogs Surrounding a Rabbit

In the 16th century, scientific interest in reality grew. Everything produced by nature was inventoried. This interest manifested itself, among other things, in the emergence of the market and kitchen scene, in which eatables and utensils were depicted with great precision. The most important representative of this genre is Joachim Beuckelaer (c. 1530-ca. 1574) of Antwerp. Beuckelaer's depictions were very popular in both the Northern and Southern Netherlands. The many copies and variants that flooded the art market in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries bear witness to this. The hunting scenes and still lifes of Frans Snijders (1579-1657) were also widely imitated, among others by Antwerp artists such as Pieter Boel (1622-1674), Jan Fyt (1611-1661) and Pieter van den Bemden (c. 1650). Many of these genre paintings and still lifes have a double bottom. They refer to fertility and eroticism and also remind us of the transience of life. The tradition of depicting the four elements, virtues and vices, the senses or the seasons allegorically already existed in the 16th century. However, it is mainly in the 17th century that these representations will make a real furore.