The Four Elements: Fire

Antwerp around 1570 was one of the great trading ports of Europe, and among the foreign merchants living there was a rich Portuguese family, the Ximenes. The National Gallery thinks Fernão Ximenes, who was in the city in 1569 and 1570, is the most likely patron of this picture and its three companions, one for each of the four elements. Earth and Water are dated 1569, Air and this one 1570, the date painted above a doorway. Fire is a kitchen. Servants in front deal with poultry and a side of meat, and at the back, by the hearth, a young man on a stool drinks from a jug while the women tend the flames. Through an open door, in a room beyond, Christ talks with Martha and Mary. Beuckelaer tucked his signature onto the edge of a table, close to the turkey.