The Afternoon Meal (La Merienda)

Luis Meléndez Spanish

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 641

Meléndez’s refined still life embodies an elegant, courtly mode of eighteenth-century Spanish painting. It dates from the moment that he received a commission of forty-four still lifes to decorate the royal palace and former hunting lodge of Aranjuez. This painting is exceptional, however, for its grand size and the inclusion of a luscious landscape. A picnic basket justifies the work’s traditional title, The Afternoon Meal (in Spanish, La Merienda), and evokes aristocratic excursions away from Madrid’s summer heat, while the local produce and traditional cookware deliberately ennoble Spanish culture.

The Afternoon Meal (La Merienda), Luis Meléndez (Spanish, Naples 1716–1780 Madrid), Oil on canvas

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