Artwork
Vegetable market
Vegetable market is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Nicolaes Maes. It dates from 1660 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work reflects genre painting's interest in realistic portrayals of contemporary activities, highlighting the social and economic conditions of the period.
The painting shows a bustling market stall attended by a woman, emphasizing everyday commerce and domestic labor in 17th-century Dutch life. Maes captures the vitality of the market scene through detailed vegetables and the figure's engaged posture, suggesting the modest prosperity of the merchant class. The work reflects genre painting's interest in realistic portrayals of contemporary activities, highlighting the social and economic conditions of the period.
Technique & Style
The painting is executed in oil paint on canvas, measuring 71 cm by 91 cm. Maes renders the market scene with loose brushwork that emphasizes the texture of vegetables and the play of light on the stall. The composition balances detailed still-life elements with a lively portrayal of a woman arranging produce, creating a genre scene that captures everyday activity. The canvas support provides a stable ground for the layered application of paint.
History & Provenance
Vegetable Market was created by the Dutch artist Nicolaes Maes in 1660. Executed in oil on canvas, the work measures 71 by 91 centimetres and depicts a market scene with a woman arranging produce. It is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
The available sources do not provide a specific accession number or a documented exhibition history for the work.
Overview
Nicolaes Maes’s Vegetable Market (1660) is an oil painting that captures a bustling street‑level market scene. The composition centers on a woman in a red dress and white apron, cradling an infant beside a cart laden with assorted vegetables. Around her, a child with a straw hat, a man in a black hat and red coat, and another woman in a white headscarf engage with the produce, while a dog rests on the ground. The background suggests an urban street lined with distant buildings.
Context
Vegetable Market belongs to the Dutch Golden Age genre tradition that celebrated ordinary scenes with moral and economic undertones. Maes, known for portraiture and religious subjects, turned to market and domestic interiors in the 1650s, aligning his work with contemporary interests in realism, civic pride, and the prosperity of urban trade.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Nicolaes Maes (January 1634 – December 1693; buried 24 December 1693) was a Dutch painter known for his genre scenes, portraits, religious compositions and the occasional still life.
