Celebrated for his lively storytelling, Wtewael also had a remarkable talent for rendering objects with extraordinary naturalism. Here plucked, clammy-skinned game, fresh carrots and cabbages, and shiny metal pots coalesce into a captivating still life.

While the bounty of food in this kitchen is enticing, many of the provisions had meaning beyond their sheer abundance. Fish could symbolize Christ (the Greek word for fish forms an acronym of “Jesus Christ God’s Son Savior”). But fish could also have sexual connotations, an association reinforced by other suggestive motifs in the foreground.

The flirtatious couple in front of a blazing fire bolsters the erotic theme and together with other motifs suggests that the kitchen scene is meant to signify voluptas carnis, sins of the flesh.

The two arched openings behind the kitchen depict episodes from the parable of the great supper. In this story, Jesus tells of a man who has prepared a sumptuous banquet to which all the invited guests decline to come, each offering a different excuse (Luke 14:16–24).  Enraged, the man sends his servant into the streets to summon in their place the poor, the lame, and the blind. In the opening at the left, the servant can be seen gathering new guests for the feast. The piazza recalls the Capitoline Hill of Rome as it appeared in the sixteenth century.

Through the opening at the right, the new guests are shown arriving at the table where the banquet will be served. The parable reveals that even the outcasts of society will be seated at the table of the Lord so long as they heed his invitation.  The idea of the eternal heavenly feast is contrasted with the worldly seductions of the kitchen scene.