The group of villagers dance to the sounds of the bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy in honour of a bride who presides over the table in the background, surrounded by family members and guests. The landscape background reveals the presence of a church with a tall bell tower, where one of the figures could be Archduke Leopold William of Austria, governor of the Spanish Netherlands on behalf of Philip IV. With regard to popular country entertainments, Teniers painted relatively infrequently the world of peasant weddings considering the wide range of his paintings. This work was executed in 1637 and depicts the bride without her husband and seated with the backing of a large piece of cloth on which, in accordance with tradition, the wedding crowns are hung while the guests enjoy themselves dancing around the table. In keeping with Teniers’s pictorial trajectory, he concentrates on emphasising the festive spirit as a kind of joyful hubbub without adding elements or interpretations of a critical or scathing nature.
Collection: Images
Project: 3. Rural world and urban world in the formation of the European identity., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe.
Chronology: XVII
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Resource type: Image
Format: Oil on canvas (75 x 112 cm)
Source: Museo del Prado (Madrid)
Language: Spanish
Date: 1647
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Identifier: P001786
Copyright: Museo del Prado (Madrid)
Abstract: Country feast and festive celebration of the peasantry in early modern Europe as depicted by Teniers
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