The Blessing of the Marriage Bed

Apparently unpublished, this picture may well have been part of a series of scenes from a Village Wedding, of which two may have been those sold at Christie's, New York, 6 June 1984, lot 199; these were slightly less high but of the same width (see Klaus Ertz in the catalogue of the exhibition Pieter Brueghel der Jngere - Jan Brueghel der Ältere, Flämische Malerei um 1600 Tradition und Fortschritt, Villa Hugel, Essen, 1997, nos. 132-134). As Marlier pointed out, the series probably derived not from Pieter Brueghel I but from Martin van Cleve (see G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Brussels, 1969, pp. 341ff.); Ertz, loc. cit., reproduces an example of the subject by van Cleve, from which the present composition evidently derives, although there the bridegroom is depicted asleep at table as the bride is escorted towards the bed, whereas here he is depicted kissing his forlorn wife.

Marlier (op. cit., p. 347) records an example showing a peasant drinking at the cottage door, as in the present picture; this may be the present work, although it is recorded as being some 1½ in. (4 cm.) higher.