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This Flemish artist's teacher and uncle was Jan Brueghel the Younger, and therefore he was a direct descendant on his mother's side from Pieter the Elder and Jan the Elder. He painted chiefly still-lifes, frequently representing food laid out sumptuously on light-coloured tables and depicted with the delicacy of a miniaturist, using lively colours of a predominately red tint laid on with the tip of the brush.
The documentary, informative, educational, and communicative function of these richly laid tables, in which the individual objects are simply added on and depicted from a slightly raised viewpoint, is combined with the evident intention of demonstrating the affluence of the wealthy patrons of these works. It is also possible to discern allegorical intentions alluding to the five senses or the four elements, but while such an interpretation is quite plausible, the principal aim is a purely aesthetic one, offering this profusion of beautiful objects, rendered with exquisite skill, as a simple feast for the eyes.
There is a companion piece to this painting, a variation on the same theme, also on show in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj.
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