The Whitsun Bride

Details

David Vinckboons (Mechelen 1576-c. 1633 Amsterdam)
The Whitsun Bride
oil on panel
21 x 27¼ in. (53.3 x 69.3 cm.)

Provenance

Hohenzollern (according to letters of expertise dated 17 and 23 October 1961).
Anonymous sale; Fischer, Lucerne, 21-27 November 1961, lot 2258.

Literature

Die Weltkunst, November 1961, illustrated.
G. Marlier and J. Folie, Pierre Brueghel le jeune, Brussels, 1969, p. 369, fig. 229, as the only autograph version by David Vinckboons.
K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere (1564-1637/38): Die Gemälde, mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, Lingen, 2000, pp. 758 and 765, fig. 604, no. A1050, as 'David Vinckeboons-Nachfolge', erroneously splitting the provenance between two entries.
Die Sammlung Hubertus und Renate Wald, Hamburg, Hamburg, 1998, p. 154, as 'David Vinckboons, (Kopie nach)'.

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Alexis Ashot

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Lot Essay

The prime versions of this composition are considered to be two works signed 'P. BREVGHEL', both on panel, one in Dessau, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie (47 x 74 cm.); the other in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (50.8 x 77.8 cm.). The subject belongs to the cheerful Flemish tradition of rustic celebrations -- kermesses, wedding feasts and dances. The age-old custom recorded in the present subject is that of the Whitsun Bride. In celebration of Whitsuntide (the week following the feast of Whitsun, or Pentecost), Flemish children traditionally gather the Pinksterbloem, or 'Whitsun flower', to adorn a girl selected as the Whitsun Bride. The Bride and her attendants then parade through the village streets, singing songs about the flower to be rewarded with treats at the village homes.

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