A kitchen interior with a maid filleting fish at a table This painting depicts an orderly Italian kitchen. Its white-washed walls are covered with neatly hung and scrupulously polished cast-iron and brass cooking vessels and some blue-and-white earthenware dishes, decorated to imitate more expensive porcelain ones. A pile of pewter plates shares the bench with a ceramic lidded tankard dated 1678, some vegetables, and a cat awaiting scraps from the fish being filleted by the maid. Joints of preserved meat, salami, and lardo (salted back fat used to lard lean meats) hang from the rafters close to the large hearth with its lit fire.

Gian Domenico Valentino (c.1630 – c.1708)

Gian Domenico Valentino (c.1630 – c.1708) Romagna, 1678

Oil on canvas

Private Collection