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My comments take Pieter Aersten's painting “Christ with Mary and Martha” (fig. 1) at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna as their starting point. The exact date (July 25, 1552) is noted on the upper right of the picture, below the window. In the foreground, very close to the viewer's eye, a still-life has been arranged on a table: on the left, a plate with a decorated pat of butter into which a carnation has been stuck, a clay pot, a jug—the long spout of which crosses in front of three small loaves of bread. A small cupboard with a massive key in its open door reveals two metal chalices; scrolls with dangling seals can be barely made out. A basket placed on top of this little cupboard bears a plate which seems to float uncertainly rather than rest, not large enough for the massive joint of meat hanging over it. Sticking up at the side of a vase of flowers is a checkered handle on which two leather money pouches are slung, hanging over the top of the sturdy cupboard door. A pile of folded linens serve as a pedestal for a basket filled with a jumble of dishes. Aertsen's artistic signature, a trident, is seen on a trompe l'oeil note which has been affixed next to the open cupboard door.
The inscription “Luc. 10” on a floor tile at the front left foreground refers to the pertinent biblical text describing Christ's sojourn in Bethany at the house of Lazarus and his two sisters, during which Martha laboured to serve him and prepare the meal while Mary sat at Jesus' feet listening to him preach. “… and Mary took her place at the Lord's feet, and