Landscape with a Country Zucchini, David Teniers the Younger, 1644

Description of the picture:

Landscape with a rustic zucchini – David Teniers the Younger. 1644. Copper, oil. Diameter 40.5 (circle)

   Among the peasants feasting at the table, the artist presented a man in a white shirt, with a jug in his hands. Perhaps the image of this character and the pig next to it contains a hint of the story of the prodigal son. In the works of the first half of the 1640s, Teniers addressed this topic more than once. In particular, the plot of the prodigal son was reflected in the artist’s paintings stored at the Art Institute in Minneapolis (circa 1640) and the Louvre in Paris (1644).

   In the Louvre composition, which depicts two episodes from the gospel parable of the prodigal son, the figure of the swineherd on the right deep in pose and appearance resembles a man in a white shirt in the Hermitage painting of Teniers, executed in the same 1644."