The Lunch (Velázquez) Explained

The Lunch
Other Language 1:Spanish
Other Title 1:Tres hombres a la mesa (El almuerzo)
Artist:Diego Velázquez
Year:c. 1617
Medium:Oil on canvas
Height Metric:108.5
Width Metric:102
Metric Unit:cm
Imperial Unit:in
Museum:Hermitage Museum
City:Saint Petersburg

The Lunch is a very early painting by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, finished c. 1617. The work, an oil painting on canvas, is in the Hermitage Museum of Saint Petersburg.

The painting portrays a table covered by a creased cloth, on which lie two pomegranates and a piece of bread. People attending the lunch include an aged man on the left and a young man on the right, while, in the background, an apparently carefree boy pours wine into a jug. The smiling man on the right appears to be ordering something, using Continental finger-counting.

On the wall in the background hang a white neck-band, a leather bag and, on the right, a sword.

The Lunch is nearly identical to another painting by Velázquez, The Farmers' Lunch (1618).

The painting was on public display as 'The Breakfast' from February 2 to August 25, 2019 at the H'ART Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as part of the 'De Schatkamer!' exhibition.

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