Circle of Marten van Cleve I (Antwerp 1527-1577/81)

This hitherto unpublished painting derives from a popular composition of Marten van Cleve. Marten depicted episodes from a peasant wedding in several series of panels. A set of five panels, known from a sale in Brussels in 1930 and published by Marlier, that have since been dispersed, includes a comparable episode of the Presentation of Wedding gifts (see G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Brussels, 1969, p. 343, fig. 209).
Although van Cleve's invention apparently provided the basis for the present painting, the episode has been enlarged by additional figures on both sides: behind the peasant woman holding a stool on the left side, appears a young man holding up a shovel and a wooden bowl; behind the tree with a peasant urinating on the right side, a woman carrying an enormous wooden tub has been added. Also the space above the merry company has been enlarged to give a view on trees, sky and thatched huts.