UNKNOWN MASTER, Italian
(active 1489-1502 in Valle d'Aosta)

Fruit and vegetable stands (detail)

1489-1502
Fresco
Castello Challant, Issogne (Valle d'Aosta)

The well-dressed young woman holds an object that looks like a closed parasol. It is a distaff which was a common attribute for virtuous and industrious housewives. The allusion to virtue in this market scene is more than appropriate, for the same young woman has turned toward a young man to whom she offers two carnations; he responds by touching her hand with his right hand while holding two long radishes in his left.




© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.