A plethora of piscine produce is presented to us: fish of all kinds are piled in baskets, tumble over the edges of platters or slip from the stallholder's grasp. On the far left is an earthenware dish of sprats and/or immature herrings; in front of the woman in the red hat is a large wooden platter containing three carp, two pike and two tench. She rests her arm on a tub of plaice. In front of the man is a basket of large cod and in the lower right corner an eviscerated ray lies on an earthenware platter. Other dishes contain herrings, silver bream, a rudd and perch. There are even mussel shells scattered on the floor.

The two vendors, who ignore their clients and look directly at us, seem to be selling different kinds of fish. The woman specialises in freshwater fish, the man -- who has obviously been chopping up produce with the large knife resting on the block behind his arm -- in sea fish. The five women behind are customers. Some are servants: one balances a tray of cheese wrapped in white clothes on her head, another a brass(?) vessel. Two, evidently of higher rank, wear black mantles.

Although it looks like a contemporary scene -- the people are dressed in sixteenth-century clothes, and on the left they walk up and down a street lined with Renaissance buildings, including the Rode Poort, or Red Gate, of Antwerp -- something else is going on too. Through the arch in the middle you can see a ship with fishermen hauling in their nets. One man wades through the water towards a figure on the shore. The water is the Sea of Galilee and this is the miraculous draught of fishes (John 21: 1 – 14). Christ, risen from the dead, appeared to his apostles, who had had an unsuccessful night's fishing. He told them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat and they pulled in a multitude of fish.

This is one of four large pictures in which the four elements -- earth, air, fire and water -- are represented as food, with biblical scenes in the background. The artist, Joachim Beuckelaer, specialised in market and kitchen scenes with elaborate displays of food. He has signed, monogrammed and dated the picture on the edge of the table on the left of the basket of cod: Joahim buekeleer/15.IB.69.

Beuckelaer often reused figures and settings, although rarely repeated them exactly. The ray recurs in his Fish Market with the Miraculous Draught of Fishes. Old women similar to the one on the left appear in other paintings, for example in the Market Square with the Calling of Matthew (Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples), dated 1566. He perhaps used himself as a model for the male fish seller -- this face reappears in several of his pictures. A similar view down the Rodestraat, which may well have been visible from his workshop, appears in his Couple selling Poultry of 1569 (Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples).

Beuckelaer's ability as a painter is perhaps most apparent in this picture. He has painted very quickly, usually thinly and with remarkable economy. With surprising boldness he has laid in the paint with broad brushstrokes and was not nervous of extreme contrasts of tone. The three gutted herring in the top right corner would not look out of place in paintings by Manet or Cezanne.

Style: High Renaissance