Like most seventeenth-century genre painting, Meagre Repast is probably an illustration of a moralizing story or proverb. It’s precise meaning is not known however. It probably has to do with poverty and hospitality. Seated at the head of the table is a young boy with puffed up cheeks who is cooling the food with his breath. This could refer to sayings like ‘blowing hot and cold’. The composition is very similar to what are called bodegones, religious scenes with a strikingly realistic character, which the Spanish painter Velasquez painted as a young man. The contrast between light and dark, the coarse figures and the realistic depictions are also reminiscent of Caravaggio’s style.
| Artist |
Master of the Blue Jeans
RKD
|
|---|---|
| Title | Meagre Repast |
| Period | 17th century |
| Location | North Italy TGN |
| Collection | paintings AAT |
| Object type | oil paintings (visual works) AAT |
| Inventory number | 1905-A |
| Acquisition credit |
gift
The Friends of the Museum Ghent 1905 |
| Current whereabouts | Work on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1905-A |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/407/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus | 300139140 genre pictures AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
26C6
wind as a human face, blowing with rounded cheeks
Iconclass
31A71 male sex; man Iconclass 31A72 female sex; woman Iconclass 31B6213 looking sideways Iconclass 31D1 the ages of man Iconclass 31D112 child Iconclass 31D11221 boy (child between toddler and youth) Iconclass 31D120 Youth, Adolescence, 'Iuventus'; 'Adolescenza', 'Gioventu' (Ripa) Iconclass 31D14 adult man Iconclass 31D15 adult woman Iconclass 41A711 table Iconclass 41C1 eating and drinking Iconclass 41C119 hunger Iconclass 41C3 laid table: table-ware, table-decoration, etc. Iconclass 41C31 table-ware Iconclass 41C311 table-knife Iconclass 41C313 spoon Iconclass 41C341 dish, plate, saucer Iconclass 41C37 table-cloth Iconclass 41C621 bread, loaf Iconclass 41D29 clothed in rags Iconclass 55BB1 Poverty; 'Poverta', 'Poverta del doni', 'Poverta in uno ch'habbia bell'ingegno' (Ripa) Iconclass |
| School / Style | Baroque AAT |
| Gand et Tournai : Ouvrage orné de 120 gravures / Henri Hymans. - Paris : Librairie Renouard-H. Laurens, 1902 ; Paris : H. Laurens, 1902 |
| Museum van Schoone Kunsten : Catalogus ; Oude Meesters, Schilderstukken, teekeningen, plaatsneden (met geschiedkundig overzicht) / Maurice Dupuis, Georges Charles Nicolas Marie Hulin de Loo, Fritz Van Loo. - Gent : Drukkerij F. De Vos, 1938 ; Gent : Stad Gent, 1938 (p. 153) |
| Tableau de l'école Espagnole en Belgique / Pierre Bautier. - [s.l.]. - [s.n.]. - [s.a.]. - [s.l.]. - [s.n.]. - 1943 (p. 13, pl. 14) |
| Chefs-d'oeuvre du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand (exposition itinérante 'Quarante chefs-d'oeuvre du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand' Bruxelles, Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 12 février - 6 mars 1949 ; Liège, 12 mars - 3 avril 1949 ; Luxembourg, 9 avril - 1 mai 1949 ; Lille, 14 mai - 12 juin 1949) / Georges Chabot, Paul Eeckhout. - Bruxelles : Editions de la Connaissance, 1949 (nr. 29) |
| Guide du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand, Orné de 52 reproductions de tableaux : Extrait du guide illustré de Gand / Jos. Casier. - Gand : Anc. Maison d'édition Vanderpoorten, 1949 (p. 26, nr. 32) |
| Italiaanse school / Paul Eeckhout. - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.] (p. 96-97) |
| Europa aan tafel : Een cultuurgeschiedenis van eten en drinken / Leo Moulin. - Antwerpen : Mercatorfonds, 1988 (p. 168 (ill.)) |
| Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Robert Hoozee. - Brussel : Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, 1988 (p. 41) |
| Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent = Museum of Fine Arts Ghent / Claudie De Guillebon, Jacques Ostier, Robert Hoozee, Monique Tahon-Vanroose. - Parijs : Association des Amis de "Musées 2000", 1989 (p. 64 (ill. 119)) |
| Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : Catalogus schilderkunst ; Deel I: 14de - 18de eeuw ; Deel II: 19de - 20ste eeuw / Robert Hoozee, Johan De Smet, Bruno Fornari, Ruth Monteyne. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2007 (dl. I, p. 25, 191 (ill.)) |
| Het Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : een keuze uit de mooiste werken / Patrick De Rynck. - Gent : Ludion, 2007 (p. 53 (ill.)) |
| Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : De collectie (tentoonstelling vanaf 21 maart 2021) / Johan De Smet, Bart Ooghe, Frederica Van Dam, Lieven Van Den Abeele, Cathérine Verleysen. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2021 |
| Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand : La Collection (exposition dès le 21 mars 2021) / Johan De Smet, Bart Ooghe, Frederica Van Dam, Lieven Van Den Abeele, Cathérine Verleysen. - Gand : Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand, 2021 |
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