The Four Elements: Air

Artist: Joachim Beuckelaer (Dutch, Probably about 1535, died 1575)

Original Dimensions: 62 1/4" x 85"

Location: National Gallery of Art, London

About Artwork: (1570) "At first sight this looks like a busy sixteenth-century street scene. A man sells poultry and other produce, piled up in baskets and barrels, in the corner of a market square. He lifts up two hens by their legs, feathers from their flapping wings drifting down and settling on the coop below. On the left, a smartly dressed young woman with a basket on her arm grasps a handsome cockerel by its feet. She turns and looks confidently out at us, as if we are standing next to her at this stall. There’s more going on here than the daily shop. This is one of four large paintings in which the four elements – earth, air, fire and water – are represented by food, with biblical scenes in the background. In another corner of the market we can see the prodigal son, in red trousers – he is wasting ‘his substance with riotous living’ (Luke 15: 13)." - (National Gallery of Art, London)