St Matthew and the Angel

Vincenzo Campi is best known for market and kitchen scenes: fishmongers, poultry sellers and fruit vendors surrounded by heaps of produce. They are among the first genre paintings in northern Italy, and they combine earthy humour with carefully painted food. He was born in Cremona around 1536, the son of Galeazzo Campi, and trained in the workshop of his elder brother Giulio. He painted religious works too, including Christ Nailed to the Cross for the Certosa di Pavia and a Crucifixion now in the Prado, and he worked for the Farnese family in Piacenza. His Kitchen and Chicken Vendors, both of about 1580, are in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. He died in Cremona in 1591. In Fishmongers, look at the variety of fish and the texture of each one. The produce is as much the subject as the people.