Peasant Wedding Feast

In an open space under trees, a long table is set and many people gather around the feast. At the right foreground, two men carry a board like a door plank loaded with many dishes. The young woman in a crown who sits under the green hanging is said to be the bride, and at the left foreground jugs and baskets are set out, with a small child in a red cap also in view.

This work is a copy of the famous painting of the same title by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). Pieter the Younger is said to have painted this copy five times: three are indoor scenes faithful to the original, and two, including this one, were changed to outdoor scenes. The size of the picture was also reduced to less than half that of the original.

According to the museum's commentary, the dishes in the foreground hold a pudding peculiar to Flanders called "vlaai"; the women on either side of the bride are presumed to be her mother and mother-in-law; and the three men seated to the bride's left are presumed to be her father or a notary, a Franciscan friar, and the village lord, head, or judge. As for where the bridegroom is, some see him as the man in brown handing out dishes or the man pouring beer into a jug at the left corner, while another view holds that he has not yet appeared. The colored leaves in the background show that the season is autumn, and for Flemish peasants the time after the harvest was the wedding season.