Onions and Garlic is unusual because rather than depicting the more common subjects of flowers or fruit, Arnoud Wydeveld chose vegetables as his focus. The crackling, peeling skin of the onions and the bulbous irregularity of the garlic bud must have appealed to the artist. Adding to the challenge, Wydeveld selected two different types of onions—the differing colors and translucent layers of which offered him an opportunity to demonstrate his technical skills. While not as common as flowers or fruit, still-life paintings of vegetables have existed for centuries and can often be found incorporated into larger compositions. For example, Spanish master Jusepe de Ribera (1591–1652) merged genre painting with still life in his allegorical work The Sense of Smell, c. 1615. Ribera endeavored to visually render smell by depicting a man whose eyes tear as a result of the cut onion in his hand. In addition, upon the table behind which the man stands are a red onion and a garlic bud. Taken out of context, the objects on the rustic table become their own vignette, much like Wydeveld’s Onions and Garlic.