View of the Great Market in Rotterdam

Ask anything

• Eva asked

  Is there any information on the red flowers on the left side of the painting? Are they being sold? Do they symbolise something?

• Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen answered

  Hi Eva, I don't know what flowers they are. I can see that they are still attached to a wooden stick and thus (maybe) still planted in a pot? There is much written about the meaning of flowers in paintings, especially in religious iconography. However here, and this is my personal guess, they are looking very healthy and thriving. A withered plant might indicate a bad harvest, and this the reverse? Best, Lisa

• H.Amanda asked

  what is the black hat with a stick?

• Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen answered

  Dear Amanda, thank you for your interesting question. Our registrar and curator have done some research and they think the cap might refer to the Jew cap which was common in the Middel Ages. In the seventeenth century most Dutch Jews were Sephardim and they clothed themselves in the manner of the upper-class. Ashkenazim, however, were in general much poorer and wore old fashioned clothes. In 1647 a synagoge was founded in Rotterdam, quite near to the marketplace. So it might be possible that Sorgh wanted to indicate that there were Jewish people visiting the market. In the background you will find another cap with a stick. I hope this was helpful. All best, Els