Peasant Wedding s by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569)

peasant wedding comment

‘’The Peasant Wedding’’ painting was made by Pieter Brueghel, known as Elder Brueghel, is one of the most important painter and of that period and has contributed a lot to humanism[2]. He is also known as “Peasant Bruegel” for his paintings often describe the countryside and everyday life. He is Flemish renaissance painter. Brueghel’s painting reflect the characteristics of the Flemish schools of the 16th century. He was made many genre painting (daily life painting) and he is one of the first official representatives of genre painting. ‘’His detailed scenes of everyday life, his illustrations of proverbs and moral lessons in contemporary settings are all well known.’’ [3]This work also is a genre painting. Peasant Wedding was completed in 1567, the work testifies to a wedding celebration in the village. After the Protestant reform, the artists in northern Europe started to change their perception of art at that time with the new topics.[4] The greatest significance of the work was that while his colleagues made gaudy religious paintings to the church in exchange for money, Bruegel surprisingly painted the peasants in their most ordinary form. That’s why, this picture is very important. Bruegel lived in Antwerp and Brussels. It was big and rich cities, but it was a much more modest life that Bruegel reflected and wanted to see. His customers were curious about peasant, humble life. It was a typical example of the geographical area. It is an original work. It is an oil painting made on wood. The dimensions of the picture are 45 in × 65 in. In 1594, Austrian Archduke Ernst bought this painting from Brussels. This work is currently on display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

When we look at this picture, this picture is not an abstract image. It is a picture drawn with inspiration from ordinary days and events. Pieter Bruegel, known for his works reflecting the village life and the natural state of people, is a guest of a village wedding in this work. Painting tells about an important event that the society came together and realized. The artist, who has a humanist and realistic understanding of painting, is also mixed with the public in this painting. The picture shows an area where food is served to the peasant people after the ceremony. It is seen that everyone, who eats with a great appetite, and adults carrying plates, attends the celebration. This place is thought to be a barn. The warmth of the colors in the environment, the body movements and eating and drinking patterns of the people strengthen the impression that the celebration takes place in an intimate atmosphere. Wheat bundles hanging diagonally on the wall are used as a symbol of fertility in many different cultures. Here, in addition to being used for the same purpose, it also gives information about the season of the wedding. Hagen and Hagen (2003) state that grain is the most valuable and important food item at the time of painting, and flour or different forms of grain are constantly used in daily life. According to Hagen and Hagen (2003), the wooden spoon in the cap of the servant in the picture is an important symbol of poverty and hunger. He stated that the Netherlands was in a significant famine during the period in question, and people were carrying spoons in their pockets and hats everywhere, so that food could be found.[5] In the picture, when looking at the dishes distributed by the servants, there is not much variety in the dishes on the plates. This seems to be proof that a limited budget was used at the wedding, as if supporting the above poverty period. A comment can also be made about the identity of the people by looking at the clothes and sitting styles of the people in the picture. The old man with a black hat sitting on the left side of the bride draws attention to him. What distinguishes it from others is that it sits primarily on a private chair with ordinary villagers, not on wooden rows. There is no second guest sitting on a special chair like him. In addition, the fur outfit he wears distinguishes him from ordinary peasants. It can be said that the person in question could be an official from outside the village, perhaps the official to approve the wedding. The picture shows a hat at the head of almost everyone. Some of the hats have elements such as feathers and ribbons. Musicians are also stuck in their instruments. These signs or symbols represent the groups to which the person wearing the hat is attached. These groups are; Although they are social groups formed by people, they are mostly professional, socio-economic or ethnic groups. We can say that the owner of the land can be rich because his hat and clothing are quite flashy. The dog, located next to the person we believe to have land and under the table, also symbolizes loyalty in many cultures. In this picture, which tells about the marriage ceremony, it can be thought that the dog figure was formed on the basis of loyalty of this marriage or was included in order to wish it to occur. However, the groom is not seen next to the bride. However, this situation is also related to the cultural structure of the period. In the said period; It is stated that the duty of taking care of the guests is not in the family of the bride and the bride, the duty of serving the guests is only in the family of the groom and groom. Gives importance to the idea that he is a groom. We see that there is little and one type of food. However, the painter shows us that this situation does not make people pessimistic and eats rare delicious foods with pleasure. This picture also tells the audience about the difficult living conditions of the villagers. No matter how negative the environment is, people always say they have the ability to survive.

Art Elements of The Peasant Wedding

In Peasant Wedding the artist uses lines. Implied lines are used in this picture. Implied lines meaning is a discontinuous line that is completed by the viewer due to the context of the piece. It mentioned before that the painting tells a wedding and if it thought as a pyramid which right in front of us and among the food distributors, the bride will stay in that pyramid. Although the bride does not draw attention with her black simple dress and simple crown in accordance with the traditions of the period, she is located in the place where the picture is emphasized. The crown made of paper above also emphasizes its importance. When look at the people’s face we can easily see psychological lines. Psychological lines create a relationship between mental and emotional affect between the character of painting. People are eating their food with fever and rudeness and drinking their drinks. Hunger and sincerity exist on their face. When we look at the bride’s face, we can understand that she is peaceful. This feelings which exist on their face, create psychological lines. Vertical lines move up and down; they are perpendicular to horizontal lines and used in this picture to emphasize height. Vertical lines are often used to show stability and defy gravity. We can see 2 posts describing the height of the barn. Horizontal lines show stagnation, passivity. Horizontal lines are also used in this work. The dining table is on the horizontal axis and people are sitting around the table. Diagonal lines imply movement, action and directionality. In this picture, there is movement. We can see this movement in those who carry food, the person who distributes it, who fills wine or who tries to get inside. Even those sitting at the table have certain movements. Some drink their drinks, some talk to each other. Positive shapes imply the objects or figures that the viewer focuses on. When we look at the picture, we see the first food dispensers. But we realize that the bride to be emphasized among them is the bride. The green veil on the back of the bride was also used to draw attention to the bride. The use of positive shape has been emphasized by the figure of the bride. Value contrast between two colors makes the colors look differently. In the picture, the faces of people who are closer to where the viewer is looking are more alive, but not for those who are far away. In general, more than one color was used from the picture. blue, green and red are used from primary colors. Brown was used to emphasize the old and sloppy. It was used to attract attention in some of the whites. Warm colors are dominant in general. But there are also cool colors. Green colors and blue on one of the food dispensers are examples of cold colors. Analogous colors are used, for example brown, red and green. In the picture, as there is no light on the upper parts of the barn, the picture is dark. Space also used. Things that are closer to us look larger and things that are further away look smaller. Bruegel use different techniques like relative size and linear perspective to create the illusion of depth. Thanks to using perspective picture look like 3D and it adds people to the picture because they seem to be looking in terms of them In this way, people who are closer to us are drawn larger and distinctly, but those who are far away are not. In the picture, creation of illusion of space exist with overlapping of figures. On the left side of the picture, people are trying to get inside. They are small drawn because they are far away, but we can still understand that there is an overlap. Continuous Narrative meaning is storytelling. Also, this technique has been used. Describes a wedding and the celebration given in the barn.

Bruegel lived in a mixed historical period, with lots of political irregularities and Flemish religious contradictions. After the protestant reform, trust in the church diminished. In the 16th century, Martin Luther tried to explain that the pope deceived the Christians and lived in luxury. Luther translated the Bible into German and tried to reduce the importance of the church. the church also started a counter-reform movement and used art as a propaganda tool. Churches also took their share from the violence that emerged after the reform. Lutheral supporting protestants thought that the imagery used in the church were abused. They were prayed as if the images had power.[6] The concept of creation belongs to God, and an understanding of iconoclasm emerged, and sculptures and paintings were tried to be demolished by trying to leave churches plain. this was particularly true in the netherlands, the northern european country. Bruegel was born in the Netherlands, where such effects were experienced intensely. He was influenced by humanism, which became stronger thanks to reform, and his understanding of art began to change during this period. Giving his first examples, he explained the ordinary person.

If we look at the social structure in the period when the painting was made, it corresponds to the period called the “Small Ice Age” especially in Northern Europe. Small Ice Age, unfavorable climatic conditions; caused widespread product damage and consequently hunger and population decline. The negativities experienced created a desire to reflect real life in Bruegel and that’s why we can call it a realistic artist.[7] Also influenced by the humanism movement that emerged after the reform, the artist has reflected this on many of his works. Humanist ideals from the previous century influenced artists and scholars. Italy was end of high renaissance. Bruegel affects artist such as Leanardo Da Vinci, Michalenglo. They affected humanism. During his life in Bruegel, the church gave formal examples of daily life, not his gaudy life, which brings him closer to realism. ‘’ Netherlands that looked at peasants favorably as an estate worthy of esteem because of their contribution to society. He sees the representation of peasants in Bruegel’s paintings as a mixture of sympathy and tolerant humor,the expression by a great realist of the age the country as a place of abundance’’[8]

To summarize briefly, bruegel has given an example to the first of the paintings depicting ordinary people in this work. The picture describes a wedding dinner of ordinary villagers. A village wedding was explained in full details. With his changing perception of art after the reform, his understanding of art has changed. he was influenced by the movement of humanism during his time and reflected on how enthusiastic and sincere they were despite the scarcity in the village. Since the picture is also a real life frame, we can also call it a realistic picture. bruegel is actually an intellectual with subtle tastes. The reason for drawing village people in his paintings is that Bruegel wants to try to convey a village culture to the Flemish people living in the city that they did not know. The people of the city already had such a curiosity. At the same time, Bruegel wanted to give lessons to the aristocratic and bourgeois city life by offering a number of sections from the living, unregulated and natural life of the peasants. In my opinion, this uncle has achieved very successfully. He described their sincerity without making fun of, or cartooning with the peasant people. The fact that they eat so little and only one type of food with appetite is really a lesson in urban life. We see that it is also successful in realistically working because the information about the village wedding and village culture has been processed correctly.

References :

Hagen, R.M. ve Hagen, R. (2003). What Great Paintings Say. V.1. Taschen

Oosthoek, K. Jan. (2015). ‘’Little Ice Age. Environmental History Resources.’’

https://www.ehresources.org/little-ice-age/ adresinden 19.10.2017 tarihinde alınmıştır.

Van Der Laan, A.H. Northern Humanism in European Context, 1469–1625: From the ‘Adwert Academy To Ubbo Emmiıus BRILL, 1999. Retrieved from : https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=BLYEcAaQTNMC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Visual Arts. (2017). ‘’Interpretation of The Peasant Wedding by Pieter Bruegel the Elder’’ http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/peasant-wedding.htm

Thon, P. (1968, Autumn). “Bruegel’s The Triumph of Death Reconsidered” Cambridge University Press, V.21, pp. 289–299. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2859416.pdf?ab_segments=0%252Fbasic_SYC-5055%252Ftest&refreqid=excelsior%3Ad842e444649524ba4ca07bba8ec18d63

Zagorin, Perez. “Looking for Pieter Bruegel.” Journal of the History of Ideas 64, no. 1 (2003): 73–96. Accessed May 4, 2020. doi:10.2307/3654297.

[1] https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/peasant-wedding-pieter-bruegel-the-elder/hgGvote2WI8P3w?hl=en

[2]https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/peasant-wedding-pieter-bruegel-the-elder/hgGvote2WI8P3w

[3] Peter Thon. ‘’ “Bruegel’s The Triumph of Death Reconsidered”. Cambridge University Press, V.21. (1968): pp.289–299.

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peasant_Wedding

[5] Rose Hagen and Marie Hagen. What Great Paintings Say. Taschen. Vol.1. (2003).

[6] http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/peasant-wedding.htm

[7] K.Oosent. ‘’Little Ice Age. Environmental History Resources.’’2015.

[8]Peres Zagorin. . “Looking for Pieter Bruegel.”no1. 2013.