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Lot Essay
W. Kloek, op. cit., p.6, considers the present picture to be a late work by the artist, dateable to the 1570's; he believed that the composition is Aertsen's own invention, and that the execution was partly by the studio.
The subject is taken from Matthew, XXII:1-15, where a King invited all his highly placed subjects to the wedding feast of his son. After their refusal, the King ordered his servants to go out on to the streets to invite angry merchants, beggars and poor people instead. Pieter Aertsen has placed the scene in the courtyard of a Renaissance palace, the King stands on the left near a tree instructing his servants who bow before him. The beggars are taking their seats at the richly laid tables. Poles by the tables support a canapy to provide shade for the guests.
In the background, the bride is seated at a table on the right. In front of her, servants chase clerics away, using torches and swords. This has been interpreted in the exhibition catalogue Ketters en Papen, p.138, fig.64, as a comment on the contemporary political situation in the Netherlands, in which the clerics have taken the place of the ungrateful guests in the parable.
The subject was rarely depicted. It is treated in a series of six engravings by Dirck Volkertsz. Coornhert after Maarten van Heemskerck of 1559 (Holl.IV, 105 & Holl.VIII, 99-104). Hollstein, no. 105, the last of the series, is possibly the point of departure for Aertsen's composition.
Aertsen's rendering of the subject is the more lively, mainly because of the separtion of the plans on which the figures move.
Aertsen was one of the most successful painters of the 16th century in the Netherlands. He is chiefly known for his market- and kitchen-pieces, which were influential in the evolution of the independent still-life. One of his earliest marketpieces is Butcher's shop with the Rest on the Flight into Egypt, of which the prime version is in the Universitets Konstsamling, Uppsala, of 1551 (see J.P. Filedt Kok et.al., Kunst voor de Beeldenstorm, exh. cat., 1986, pp.343/4, ill.).
Born in Amsterdam, Aertsen's career began in Antwerp circa 1535. Probably for economic reasons, he moved to Amsterdam circa 1555. In both cities he must have managed large studios. As pointed out by W. Kloek, op. cit., p.10, these were equipped for fast production by making use of cartoons, squared patterns and prototypes, which could be handled by the assistants. Aertsen's role in the studio was probably both that of an entrepreneur, delegating parts of the execution and perhaps sometimes even parts of the invention, and - in his best works - as artist responsible for both the execution and the invention. This studio practice was firmly rooted in the Antwerp tradition (see W. Kloek, op. cit., p, note 16 and see also the note to lot 98). It included the extensive use of underdrawing, which in the present picture has been revealed by examination with infra-red reflectography undertaken by Margreet Wolters of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, on 7 July 1998. The execution of certain details in the present work is somewhat crude if is is compared with that in, for instance, the Seven Acts of Mercy (W. Kloek, op. cit., p.215, fig.26) of 1575. This had led Kloek, op.cit, p. 6, to conclude that the studio must have participated in its execution.
IRR-assembly by Margreet Wolters/Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague
The subject is taken from Matthew, XXII:1-15, where a King invited all his highly placed subjects to the wedding feast of his son. After their refusal, the King ordered his servants to go out on to the streets to invite angry merchants, beggars and poor people instead. Pieter Aertsen has placed the scene in the courtyard of a Renaissance palace, the King stands on the left near a tree instructing his servants who bow before him. The beggars are taking their seats at the richly laid tables. Poles by the tables support a canapy to provide shade for the guests.
In the background, the bride is seated at a table on the right. In front of her, servants chase clerics away, using torches and swords. This has been interpreted in the exhibition catalogue Ketters en Papen, p.138, fig.64, as a comment on the contemporary political situation in the Netherlands, in which the clerics have taken the place of the ungrateful guests in the parable.
The subject was rarely depicted. It is treated in a series of six engravings by Dirck Volkertsz. Coornhert after Maarten van Heemskerck of 1559 (Holl.IV, 105 & Holl.VIII, 99-104). Hollstein, no. 105, the last of the series, is possibly the point of departure for Aertsen's composition.
Aertsen's rendering of the subject is the more lively, mainly because of the separtion of the plans on which the figures move.
Aertsen was one of the most successful painters of the 16th century in the Netherlands. He is chiefly known for his market- and kitchen-pieces, which were influential in the evolution of the independent still-life. One of his earliest marketpieces is Butcher's shop with the Rest on the Flight into Egypt, of which the prime version is in the Universitets Konstsamling, Uppsala, of 1551 (see J.P. Filedt Kok et.al., Kunst voor de Beeldenstorm, exh. cat., 1986, pp.343/4, ill.).
Born in Amsterdam, Aertsen's career began in Antwerp circa 1535. Probably for economic reasons, he moved to Amsterdam circa 1555. In both cities he must have managed large studios. As pointed out by W. Kloek, op. cit., p.10, these were equipped for fast production by making use of cartoons, squared patterns and prototypes, which could be handled by the assistants. Aertsen's role in the studio was probably both that of an entrepreneur, delegating parts of the execution and perhaps sometimes even parts of the invention, and - in his best works - as artist responsible for both the execution and the invention. This studio practice was firmly rooted in the Antwerp tradition (see W. Kloek, op. cit., p, note 16 and see also the note to lot 98). It included the extensive use of underdrawing, which in the present picture has been revealed by examination with infra-red reflectography undertaken by Margreet Wolters of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, on 7 July 1998. The execution of certain details in the present work is somewhat crude if is is compared with that in, for instance, the Seven Acts of Mercy (W. Kloek, op. cit., p.215, fig.26) of 1575. This had led Kloek, op.cit, p. 6, to conclude that the studio must have participated in its execution.
IRR-assembly by Margreet Wolters/Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague