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The Baker's Cart

1656
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 622

Michelin’s subjects relate to those by more famous artists, the Le Nain brothers, who also posed members of lower society in such deadpan, direct address. Unlike most painters in the 1600s, Michelin chose to depict peasants in an urban context where various goods are offered for sale, including fresh bread and medicinal eau‑de‑vie. His care in rendering tattered shoes anticipates Vincent van Gogh’s poetic still lifes from the 1880s, in which worn-out footwear attests to physical labor borne day in and day out.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Baker's Cart
  • Artist: Jean Michelin (French, ca. 1616–1670)
  • Date: 1656
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 38 3/4 x 49 3/8 in. (98.4 x 125.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1927
  • Object Number: 27.59
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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