A Meat and Fish Market (Winter)

Van Valckenborch first appears as a member of the painters’ guild in Mechelen, but by 1566 he had fled the city, along with other Catholic artists. In 1579, he entered the service of the governor of the Spanish Netherlands in Antwerp. The profound influence of Pieter Brueghel the Elder is strongly evident in his work. In his last years, while living in Frankfurt, he painted a number of market scenes tied distinctively to the four seasons, of which the Museum’s painting is a fine example. Such market imagery can be traced back to the previous generation of painters from the Antwerp school. This work was likely part of a series, although it cannot be connected directly with any of three other surviving sets, and may be the only existing painting from a fourth series, since lost, dedicated to seasons.