Still Life | Pieter Aertsen, 1551

Proposal: In front of the painting, a small table covered with a draped tablecloth holds a vase containing a bouquet of flowers, a mix of artificial and natural flowers.

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The table and flowers place the painting in the background, just as the butcher's stall in the painting masks the Holy Family giving alms during the Flight into Egypt behind it. The natural flowers on the table will wither like meat on a stall, whereas the artificial flowers will remain eternal. What truly matters in a work of art?

Butcher’s Stall with the Flight into Egypt
Oil on wood 123 x 167 cm
Uppsala University Art Collections (Sweden)