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A maid pounds garlic in a mortar, and other ingredients lie scattered on the table: fish, eggs, a shrivelled red pepper and an earthenware jug probably containing olive oil. An older woman points towards her, as if giving her instructions or telling her off for working too hard, or she may be drawing our attention to the figures in the background. The scene visible in the upper right is taken from the New Testament (Luke 10: 38–42). As Mary sits at Jesus’s feet, listening to him, her sister Martha complains that she should not be left to serve the food alone. Christ replies, ‘Mary has taken that good part, which shall not be taken away from her’. We view it through an opening, although it has also been read as a reflection in a mirror or a picture hung on the wall.
Title
Kitchen Scene with Christ in the House of Martha and Mary
Date
probably 1618
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 60 x W 103.5 cm
Accession number
NG1375
Acquisition method
Bequeathed by Sir William H. Gregory, 1892
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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