Vegetable Seller c. 1650s

Nicolaes Maes painted this image of a vegetable seller in the Dutch Republic, likely with oil paint on a wood panel. The setting might seem like an ordinary domestic transaction, but consider the materiality of what is being exchanged. The seller’s basket and the building are rendered with remarkable detail. The vegetables are painted to make the viewer feel like they can reach out and touch them. This level of detail, using delicate tools like fine brushes, speaks to the amount of labor invested in the painting itself, which is echoed in the labor of cultivating and selling vegetables. But who is performing this labor? Maes positions a woman as the domestic buyer, while the seller is a young girl, highlighting societal roles and the early entry of young people into the workforce. This underscores how artistic skill, combined with the depiction of everyday labor, can elevate the value of the painting itself, while providing a glimpse into the economic dynamics of the time. By seeing the materials and labor represented, we understand the painting as more than just a domestic scene.