On 6 May 2026, VISU-member Tine Meganck will take part in the one-day conference at the University of Liège. The conference called "MARKET AND KITCHEN SCENES in Sixteenth- and Early Seventeenth-Century Painting: From the Low Countries to Italy" centres around a distinctive style of painting emerged during the second half of the 16th century, depicting figures absorbed in their daily activities, at the market or in the kitchen, surrounded by impressive piles of food filling the pictorial space.
This artistic style, pioneered in the Low Countries by Pieter Aertsen and Joachim Bueckelaer, enjoyed remarkable success. It soon found an echo in Northern Italy, notably in the paintings of the Bassano family, Vincenzo Campi, Bartolomeo Passarotti and the young Annibale Carracci.
What meaning should we attribute to these images, which are both fascinating and perplexing, creating an impression of profusion, overwhelming the senses and sometimes aiming to provoke laughter? Should they be understood as mere scenes of everyday life, oscillating between picturesque anecdote and social satire? What insights do they offer into the cultural, economic and social history of the Early Modern period? What do they tell us about class and gender relations? How should we interpret, in some of them, the discreet presence of a religious episode relegated to the background? Have the Italian variations of this type of image altered their forms and meanings? Finally, can these paintings be linked to textual traditions inherited from Greco-Roman antiquity?
By bringing together specialists, early-career researchers, students and a wider audience, this event aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and renew the analysis of these works, at the intersection of visual culture, ancient heritage and Renaissance social practices.
