The intention of this essay is to analyze the Four Elements: Water by Joachim Beuckelaer. To achieve this analysis, its contextual setting will first be explored by researching paintings of this genre and other Renaissance artists of this time. Secondly, a compositional analysis will be undertaken as an essential starting point for understanding the painting. Finally, a semiotic approach will be taken to consider the narrative within the painting and begin to uncover the hidden meanings within the work. Beuckelaer was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1533. He trained in the workshop of his uncle and historical painter Dutch, Pieter Aertsen. By his late twenties Beuckelaer was a master painter in his own right. Although many of Beuckelaer's paintings were similar in subject matter to Aertsen's, Beuckelaer was thought to have surpassed his master in skill. (ref) Both artists specialized in market and kitchen scenes showing depictions of domestic activities. These scenes often incorporate a biblical subject into the background and suggest an intended contrast between the physical and the spiritual. During the 1560s Beuckelaer painted purely religious scenes. During this period he also made drawings for stained glass windows. Beuckelaer was also employed in painting figures in the work of other artists such as Anthonis Mor. This painting is part of a series of four. Each painting depicts images to represent one of the four elements of the earth. All paintings also contain a different biblical scene in the background.DescriptionDuring the Renaissance the subject of paintings was moving from religious scenes to depictions of everyday life. The first genre scenes were created... in the center of the paper... contrasting with the greens and yellows of the vegetables. Scenes like this one with fruits and vegetables of all seasons were created to show wealth and prosperity. Beuckelaer created many market scenes with fruit and vegetables. These images are true celebrations of the fruitfulness of the countryside. Pictorial Assurances of Continued Plenty for a Land on the Brink of Civil War (Honig 47) In nearly all of Beuckelaer's paintings of market scenes the produce occupies more than half the composition. The food products for sale are painted in exquisite detail and lavished with attention, while the vendors and characters in the painting fade into the background, their purpose simply to present the goods. It is this attention to detail that gives the paintings a still life appearance. Through them, artistic still life compositions articulate ideas about luxury and excess.,