Pieter Aertsen

Born in Amsterdam in 1508, Aertsen was nicknamed 'Lange Piet' (Tall Pete) due to his height, a name even recorded in the official books of the Guild of Saint Luke.¹

Aertsen was active in his native Amsterdam but also worked for a long period in Antwerp, then the artistic center of the Netherlands, becoming a citizen there in 1542.¹

In the 1550s, he developed a style of painting domestic scenes with great realism, reproducing furniture, utensils, and food with exceptional flair.¹

His 1551 work 'Butcher's Shop' is a landmark example of 'Mannerist inversion,' placing 'low' subject matter prominently in the foreground while the religious scene remains in the background.¹

Many of his religious works commissioned for Catholic churches were destroyed during the iconoclasm of the Beeldenstorm and the subsequent Protestant 'Alteratie' in Amsterdam.¹