Lot 3018* - A200 Old Master Paintings - Friday, 01. April 2022, 02.00 PM
MARTEN VAN CLEVE the Elder
(1527 Antwerp 1581)
Before the wedding night.
Oil on panel.
Upper left with an inscription (translated from the Flemish):
I have to laugh, although I feel like crying.
However much I grieve, my face remains cheerful
There are many who still sit and wait
If they were brides like me, they would also laugh.
I have to laugh, although I feel like crying.
However much I grieve, my face remains cheerful
There are many who still sit and wait
If they were brides like me, they would also laugh.
76 × 106 cm.
Certificate:
Dr Klaus Ertz, 31.12.2021.
Provenance:
Private collection, Germany, for several generations.
This superb depiction of a bride being accompanied to the wedding bed was recently discovered in a private collection in Germany, where it had remained for several generations. Dr Klaus Ertz, who was previously unaware of its existence, having examined it in the original, has identified it as a work by the hand of Marten van Cleve and dated it to the 1570s.
Marten van Cleve became a master at the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp between 1551 and 1552, at the same time as Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569). He worked for Frans Floris (1519–1570) from 1553 to 1555, before opening his own workshop in 1556. He specialised in genre and landscape paintings, focusing mainly on rural wedding scenes, carnival celebrations and brawls amongst peasants and soldiers. In these, his affinity to Pieter Bruegel the Elder is also evident, although his independent style of painting sets him apart.
The theme of "blessing the wedding bed" or "bringing the bride to the bed", which was also taken up by Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564–1638) and Pieter Baltens (1527–1584), takes on a form of its own with Marten van Cleve, which was to have a decisive influence on subsequent generations of painters of the 17th century (Klaus Ertz, Christa Nitze-Ertz: Marten van Cleve 1524–1581, Lingen 2014, cat. 137–180, pp. 199–211). Sometimes combined with other wedding scenes, it presents the concluding episode of a wedding ceremony, in which the bride is accompanied by the wedding guests to her private chamber. In her right hand she carries a chamber pot and a candle, which were among the usual bedroom accoutrements of the time and were already in everyday use in the 16th century (ibid., figs. 93, 94, p. 70, 71, cat. fig. 172, p. 209). Unlike comparable depictions, especially from complete wedding series, where the bride is shown in tears while the groom still devotes himself to the beer mug, this is the only known version where the bride is shown smiling. The inscription mentioned above provides information about her state of mind and the secret she carries in her heart. This amusing and irreverent theme was a much-loved form of entertainment in the 16th and 17th centuries and enjoyed great popularity.
We thank Dr Adri Mackor for his assistance in translating this inscription.
CHF 50 000 / 70 000 | (€ 51 550 / 72 160)
Sold for CHF 43 000 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.