Object
De kok
De kok
Though this painting certainly belongs to the tradition of kitchen scene's of Pieter Aertsen and Joachim Beuckelaer, there are some important differences. First, Bloemaert did not paint a religious scene in the background, and second, he did not paint raw meat. The moralizing or erotic nature of kitchen scene's has often been pointed out. Despite the lack of a religious element, the cook, as a corpulent ‘life-giver’, might still provide a deeper, more vulgar meaning to the painting. However, it is quite unlikely that a genre painting such as this one would belong to such a moralizing tradition. A cook stands in front of a wooden counter, holding a spit with a roast chicken. On the left, we can see part of the fireplace, while on the right two unplucked birds hang from the ceiling. According to a cookbook published in 1683, chicken was the tastiest of all poultry. When roasted it was ‘extremely tender and easy to digest, whether with rice or otherwise’.
- Maker
- Hendrick Bloemaert
- Title
- De kok
- Dating
- 1634
- Object type
- schilderij
- Object number
- 5461
- Collection
- beeldende kunst, schilderkunst, schilderkunst tot 1850
- Materials
- doek
- Technique
- olieverf op doek
- Dimensions
- hoogte 114.8 cm
- breedte 90 cm
- hoogte (met lijst) 137.2 cm
- breedte (met lijst) 112 cm
- Acquisition
- schenking (1926)
- Keyword
- genre, kok
- Inscriptions and marks
- signatuur en datering l.b. (met verf): [resten van een signatuur].1634.
- Rights
- Public domain
- Documentation
- Abraham Bloemaert and his sons, Marcel G. Roethlisberger, Marten Jan Bok, Davaco Publishers (Doornspijk, 1993), 2 dl., 710 p., [6] p., [484] p.pl.
- Caravaggio und die Niederländer, Arthur von Schneider, Verlag des Kunstgeschichtlichen Seminars (Marburg an der Lahn, 1933), 144, 50 p.
- De Catalogus der schilderijen [1952], Centraal Museum (Utrecht, 1952), LVIII + 512 p.
- Centraal Museum Utrecht : catalogus der schilderijen [1933], inl. W.C. Schuylenburg. [tekst] C.H. de Jonge, [Centraal Museum] ([Utrecht], 1933), LIX, 333 p., p.pl.
- Hoorn des Overvloeds : zeven eeuwen eten & drinken in de kunst, Ton Geerts, Waanders (Zwolle, 2002), 96 p.
- De Noord-Nederlandsche Schilderkunst, deel 4, G.J. Hoogewerff, (Den Haag, 1941-1942)
- La pintura Holandesa del siglo de oro : la escuela de Utrecht, preparacion, textos y catalogo Jos de Meyere. y Juan J. Luna, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (Bilbao, 1992) Centraal Museum (Utrecht), 261 p.
- Schilderkunst tot 1850. De verzamelingen van het Centraal Museum Utrecht [cat. nrs. 1-290], Liesbeth M. Helmus, Centraal Museum (Utrecht, 1999)
- Kroniek van Nederland, [idee Bodo Harenberg; tekst Aarts Aarsbergen, René van Beek, Jos Beelen ... et al.], Agon (Amsterdam, 1987) Elsevier (Amsterdam, 1987), 1102 p.
- Utrechtse schilderkunst in de Gouden Eeuw : honderd schilderijen uit de collectie van het Centraal Museum te Utrecht, Jos de Meyere, Matrijs (Utrecht, 2006), 463 p.
- Class Distinctions : Dutch painting in the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer, Ronni Baer, met essays van Henk van Nierop, Herman Roodenburg, Eric Jan Sluijter ...[et al.], MFA Publications (Boston, 2015), 344 p.
- De Kunst van het Lachen : Humor in de Gouden Eeuw, Anne Tummers, Elmer Kolfin en Jasper Hillegers, Frans Hals Museum (Haarlem, 2017) Waanders (Zwolle, 2017), 192 p.
