Advanced Search 
Butcher Shop
David Teniers the Younger (Flemish, 1610–1690)
1642
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
Overall: 68.4 x 98cm (26 15/16 x 38 9/16in.)
Framed: 88.9 x 116.8 cm (35 x 46 in.)
Framed: 88.9 x 116.8 cm (35 x 46 in.)
Credit Line
Sidney Bartlett Bequest
Accession Number89.500
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
This portrayal of a slaughterhouse details a decapitated ox and workers preparing its carcass for butchering. Although the painting is a bit obscene, it shows the inevitability of death and how it can be beneficial. The humans in the shop are going to sell it, customers are going to buy and eat it. Even the dog, seen lingering under the carcass, licking the drippings. Whether you’re human or an animal, death is beneficial for survival—an often taboo topic.
ProvenanceUntil 1771, Louis de Moni (b. 1698 - d. 1771), Leyden [see note 1]; April 13, 1772, de Moni sale, Leyden, lot 109. 1782, Dirk Haak, Leyden; April 18, 1782, Haak sale, Leyden, lot 19, to J. W. Heybroek; April 9, 1788, Heybroek sale, Rotterdam, lot 79, to Heybroek. 1789, Hendrik Twent, Leyden; August 11, 1789, Twent sale, Leyden, lot 49, to Delfos. 1880, Paul Pavlovich Demidoff, 2nd Prince of San Donato (b. 1839 - d. 1885), Florence; March 15 - April 10, 1880, Demidoff sale, San Donato Palace, lot 1030, to Stanton Blake (b. 1837 - d. 1889), Boston; 1889, purchased under the will of Stanton Blake by the MFA. (Accession Date: December 24, 1889)
NOTES:
[1] This and the following provenance information (through 1789) comes from Peter C. Sutton et al., "The Age of Rubens" (exh. cat. Boston, 1993), p. 423, cat. no. 69.
NOTES:
[1] This and the following provenance information (through 1789) comes from Peter C. Sutton et al., "The Age of Rubens" (exh. cat. Boston, 1993), p. 423, cat. no. 69.