Twee personen bij een schouw 1519 - 1547

Domenico Beccafumi made this drawing of two people by a fireplace with pen and brown ink. The image gives us an intimate glimpse into domestic life in Italy around the early 16th century. Beccafumi was working in Siena during the High Renaissance. In this period, the Catholic Church was a major patron of the arts and artists were expected to create works that glorified its teachings. But as we can see here, artists also drew inspiration from the everyday lives of ordinary people. Fireplaces were central to Renaissance homes, providing warmth, light, and a place for cooking. It's fascinating to consider how the design of the fireplace itself, with its focus as the heart of the home, reflected social hierarchies and gender roles. To understand this drawing more fully, we might look at household inventories and other records of daily life in 16th-century Siena. Art is always made within a specific context.