The scene, portrayed by Francisco de Goya, takes place under the arch of a stone bridge, where a wedding procession is presented in a rather unequal manner. The determined and beautiful young woman is to be married to a fat, ugly but wealthy man. The bride’s father, wearing a threadbare coat, follows the bridal party with an obliging gesture. The bride’s friends, the wenches, smile with malicious envy and the priest seems to laugh at the father, while a young man in profile, perhaps a rejected suitor, watches the procession pass by with an altered gesture. Thus Goya presents the marriages of convenience so denounced by the Enlightenment, as in Fernández de Moratín’s comedy, “El sí de las niñas” (“The Girl’s Yes”). The tapestry of this cartoon was intended for the decoration “of country and jocular matters” on the main wall of Charles IV’s office in the palatial area of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.
Collection: Images
Project: 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe.
Chronology: XVIII
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Resource type: Image
Format: Oil on canvas (269 x 396 cm)
Source: Museo del Prado (Madrid)
Language: Spanish
Date: 1791-1792
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Identifier: P000799
Copyright: Museo del Prado (Madrid)
Abstract: Representation of social reality in a couple's early marital scenes
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