“The Wedding Feast”
Notes:
Also known as “The Peasants’ Wedding” (Oil on panel/114x16.3/c. 1568, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum)
Painted about 1567, this picture has traditinally been thought of simply as a depiction of peasant life. It was paintings of this type which caused Bruegel to be known as Peasant Bruegel.
The wedding feast is dominated by the figure of the bride who, radiant and composed, presides over the table beneath a canopy. Less obvious is the identity of the bridegroom; he may be the man in black, with his back to the spectator, leaning back on his stool, mug in hand, calling for more wine. A curious detail of the scene which has never been satisfactorily explained is the presence on the far right of a richly-dressed nobleman in earnest conversation with a monk. The monk has presumably just conducted the service of marriage and it has been suggested that he is tediously reminiscing about previous weddings he has attended to the local landowner.
Greedy enjoyment of food is splendidly expressed by the child in the foreground, red hat pulled down over his eyes, cleaning a plate with his finger.