The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

The Large Wedding Feast

The Large Wedding Feast

1560
(Netherlandish, c. 1535–1608)
Netherlands
etching with engraving
Image: 36.4 x 50.7 cm (14 5/16 x 19 15/16 in.); Sheet: 36.4 x 50.7 cm (14 5/16 x 19 15/16 in.)
Carole W. and Charles B. Rosenblatt Endowment Fund 2021.143
Catalogue raisonné: New Hollstein No. 172
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Just as today, the couple receives gifts from wedding guests; here, a clerk at the table counts coins while a line of guests wait their turn to present gifts including a salt cellar, stool, candleholder, stockpot, butter churn, distaff, bellows, tongs, and pots.

Description

This 1560 etching by Antwerp artist Peeter van der Borcht is an important part of a tradition depicting peasant fairs, customs, and scenes of daily life with origins in the Low Countries in the 16th century. The protagonist of this expansive scene is the bride, who is seated at the table in the center of the composition. She sits with her arms crossed, wearing a placid expression. There is no food or drink at her table despite the plentiful victuals around her. According to Netherlandish custom, the bride was not permitted to eat or drink until the arrival of the bridegroom, which traditionally took place in the evening.
  • ?-2021
    (Sarah Sauvin Old Master and Modern Prints, Gagny, France), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art
    September 13, 2021-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Miedema, Hessel. “Feestende Boeren - Lachende Dorpers. Bij Twee Recente Aanwinsten van Het Rijksprentenkabinet.” Bulletin van Het Rijksmuseum 29, no. 4 (1981): 191–213. www.jstor.org
    Paul Vandenbroeck: « Verbeeck's Peasant Weddings: A Study of Iconography and Social Function » in Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, Vol. 14, no. 2 (1984). p. 79-124
    Jongh, E. de, and Ger Luijten. Mirror of everyday life: genreprints in the Netherlands, 1550-1700. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 1997.
    Bruegel, Pieter, and Nadine Orenstein. Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001.
    Manfred Sellink: Bruegel, L’œuvre complet, peintures, dessins, gravures, 2007.
  • {{cite web|title=The Large Wedding Feast|url=false|author=Peeter van der Borcht|year=1560|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2021.143