Pieter Bruegel: “Peasant Wedding Feast”

(despite many tries, could not upload painting -- have hard copy)

Pieter Bruegel was a great Flemish painter of the 16^th century (Venezia  3).  Very little is known about his life except that he traveled to Italy to study their great artists (Venezia 8) and lived and worked in Antwerp, Belgium (Venezia 3).  His first paintings were landscapes combining scenery from Belgium and the mountains and valleys he saw when visiting Italy (Venezia 12). He was greatly influenced by the artist Hieronymus Bosch who painted strange scenes filled with weird creatures (Venezia 11).  Later he became interested in painting people, adding more people to his works.  His paintings reflected his interest in the poor people who lived in the countryside - peasants- (Venezia 14) although he was not one himself.  He painted peasants working, playing and feasting (Venezia 16).  It is rumored that Bruegel would go in disguise to peasant celebrations (Venezia 17).  His paintings are thought to contain secret messages, symbols and images (Venezia 18). 

Bruegel’s painting “Peasant Wedding Feast” shows a marriage celebration taking place in a barn.  The painting is filled with many people and various things happening.  Food is being served.  Wine is being poured.  Musicians are playing.  People are eating and drinking and talking.  A crowd of people are trying to get in.  A young boy is sitting on the ground licking his fingers.  The bride sits alone in front of a blue cloth with a calm look.   The painting is a detailed and realistic picture of a 16^th century peasant celebration.

“Peasant Wedding Feast” shows the reality and joy of peasant life in the 16^th century.  Bruegel himself was not a peasant but perhaps he found the simple, country life to be more interesting and real than his own. Maybe that is why he would sneak into and paint their lives.  Bruegel’s interest in peasants may show not only his appreciation for their simple and merry lives but also his dislike for the fake and mannered life of the rich in Europe at the time.

Peasant Life

A wedding in a barn

hot food on a humble platter

wine poured from jugs

feasting at a communal table

noisy conversation

musicians standing

a small boy licking his fingers

a grinning bride

A peasant wedding

so different than a gentleman’s

so real and undisguised

no ornate costumes

no formal dances

no silver goblets

no polite conversation or excessive manners

instead a simple, genuine, joyous celebration

A peasant wedding feast

Works Cited

Hill, Suzanne. “Meaning in Peasant Wedding Feast.”

Suite 101.com.

31 Jan. 2012.  

            http://suzannehill.suite101.com/meaning_in_peasant_wedding_feast.

“Pieter Brugel the Elder.” The Artchive. 31 Jan. 2012. http://www.artchive.com /artchive/

            B/bruegel.html.

Venezia, Mike. Pieter Bruegel (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists).   

            Connecticut: Children’s Press, 1993.