The Dutch genre painting
emerged in Haarlem in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. In
Buytewech’s Banquet in the Open Air all the typical elements of genre
are already manifest, even though the painting clearly reflects a
transitional style. Transitional it is, not only in the general setting,
which is curiously theatrical, but also in its stiff composition. The
presentation of the different motives which together constitute the
scene is painfully precise and orthodox.
On a stage-like floor,
marked off from a garden by theatrical architecture, are two groups of
people, both consisting of richly dressed ladies and flashy men. On the
middle of the floor a table is set. One group is still seated next to
the table; the other is standing on the right, displaying themselves and
also, one has the impression, the table. Within this setting, two types
of symbol have been introduced: symbols of Luxury (among others: the
golden vases and decanters, the peacock on the table, the not quite
contemporary fancy dress) and symbols of Vanity (the musical instruments
on the floor).
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