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Occasionally it is hard to distinguish market scenes from the genre of early kitchen scenes which also tended to display still-life features. Similar to the market stall, they often show tables and sideboards with clusters of baskets and bowls full of fruit and vegetables.
In Wtewael's Kitchen Scene the real subject is supposed to be the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). This shows that in the 16th and 17th centuries the biblical motifs of feasts were used by painters as pretexts for reflection on consumer habits and attitudes towards the new wealth which resulted from improvements in agricultural production.
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