The Lunch (Velázquez)

The Lunch is a very early painting by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, finished c. 1617. The work, an oil painting on canvas, is in the Hermitage Museum of Saint Petersburg.

The painting portrays a table covered by a creased cloth, on which lie two pomegranates and a piece of bread. People attending the lunch include an aged man on the left and a young man on the right, while, in the background, an apparently carefree boy pours wine into a jug. The smiling man on the right appears to be ordering something, using Continental finger-counting.

On the wall in the background hang a white neck-band, a leather bag and, on the right, a sword. The Lunch is nearly identical to another painting by Velázquez, The Farmers' Lunch (1618). The painting was on public display as 'The Breakfast' from February 2 to August 25, 2019 at the H'ART Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as part of the 'De Schatkamer!' exhibition.