Artwork
Fish Market
Fish Market is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Cornelis Dusart. It dates from 1692 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work is housed in the Rijksmuseum collection and was previously owned by Gerrit van der Pot, underscoring its provenance within Dutch cultural history.
The painting shows a bustling outdoor market where the central focus is a vendor arranging fresh fish on a wooden slab, surrounded by onlookers and secondary stalls. The scene symbolizes the everyday commercial activity of Dutch coastal towns and reflects themes of abundance and the transience of material goods. The inclusion of a lone tree in the background adds a subtle moralizing note about the fleeting nature of prosperity.
The work is housed in the Rijksmuseum collection and was previously owned by Gerrit van der Pot, underscoring its provenance within Dutch cultural history.
Technique & Style
The painting employs oil paint on canvas, a standard support for Dutch genre works of the late seventeenth century. Handling is consistent with Dusart’s practice: thin, layered glazes build up luminous flesh tones and reflective surfaces, while broader strokes define coarse textures such as fish scales and basket weave.
The composition emphasizes close observation of daily life, arranging figures and goods in a shallow, stage-like space under a diffuse, high-key light that clarifies volumes and edges. The palette favors muted earths and silvery highlights, with local accents of red and blue anchoring the scene’s color harmony.
History & Provenance
The painting Fish Market by Cornelis Dusart is dated 1683, as recorded in both the artist’s chronology and the Rijksmuseum’s holdings.
Provenance traces the work to Gerrit van der Pot, whose ownership is documented in the museum’s collection record. The painting entered the Rijksmuseum collection, where it remains held.
The painting Fish Market by Cornelis Dusart is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The work was created in 1683 and is executed in oil on canvas. Prior to its current location, the painting was in the ownership of Gerrit van der Pot.
The provided sources do not contain specific accession numbers or a detailed record of the work's exhibition history.
Overview
Cornelis Dusart’s Fish Market (1692) is an oil on canvas that captures a bustling market scene under a modest shelter. The composition centers on a stall where vendors and customers exchange wrapped fish, while a dog watches nearby. Muddy ground, distant trees, and a church spire under a cloudy sky frame the activity, creating a vivid snapshot of everyday life in late‑17th‑century Holland.
Context
Created during the later phase of the Dutch Golden Age, the painting reflects a period when genre scenes celebrated the prosperity and order of the Republic. Marketplaces were common subjects, serving both as moral exemplars of industriousness and as records of contemporary urban environments, situating Dusart’s work within a broader cultural emphasis on realism and social observation.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Cornelis Dusart (April 24, 1660 – October 1, 1704) was a Dutch genre painter, drawer (artists), and printmaker.
