Marten van Cleve, 1527 Antwerpen – 1581 ebend... Lot n° 295

WEDDING DANCE IN THE FREE Oil on wood. 73.4 x 105.4 cm. On the back of the plate stamp marks, the two hands and tower of the city of Antwerp. Attached an expert opinion of Dr. Klaus Ertz, Lingen, 05 February 2022. The great success of the master gave rise to further versions, which were highly appreciated by collectors and clients. After all, 57 paintings of this theme can be found in his oeuvre list. Thus, this painting is already recorded there as a work by his own hand (Cat. No. 167 ff.). The depiction does not deny the deliberate wit and humor that the painter has brought into the picture. Almost caricature-like he has presented here the predominant number of people: For example, a thick-bodied couple in an endeavored elegant dancing posture, with the tripping feet only barely supporting the powerful body, which, however, shows itself wrapped in fine clothing. In contrast, the main figure, the bride in front of a stretched cloth in the background with a hung wreath, is moved into the distance. The exuberant festive joy of the village people shows original individual motifs, such as the two musicians with bagpipes or the two men who unabashedly drain their performed drink on the house wall on the right. Thus, it was not least the aim of the painter to leave the all too human behavior of his time with light irony to posterity. Note: Studied under Frans Floris (c. 1516-1570) and initially discovered his preference for landscape painting. However, prompted by his brother Heinrich, he soon devoted himself almost exclusively to figurative painting. His mostly multi-figure genre paintings are often only superficially understood as partly humorous scenes, behind which, however, a deeper allegorical or socio-critical meaning is not infrequently concealed. In 1551 he became a member of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. Literature: Klaus Ertz, Pieter Brueghel the Younger. , the paintings, Lingen 2000, vol. II, cat A 1001 (as van Cleve). Klaus Ertz, Christia Nitze-Ertz, C. Marten van Cleve, 1624-1581, Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings, Flemish Painters Around the Great Masters, vol. 9 Lingen 2014, cat. 167. A.R. (1301941) (11) Marten van Cleve, 1527 Antwerp - 1581 ibid.. OUTDOOR WEDDING DANCE Oil on panel. 73.4 x 105.4 cm. Stamps on the reverse of the panel, the two hands and tower of the city of Antwerp. Accompanied by an expert's report by Dr Klaus Ertz, Lingen, 5th February 2022. The master's great success gave rise to further versions, which were highly valued by collectors and clients. At least 57 pictures of this subject can be found in his catalogue raisonné, which also lists this painting as a work by the artist himself (cat. no. 167 ff.). Literature: Klaus Ertz, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, the Paintings, Lingen 2000, vol. II, cat A 1001 (as van Cleve). Klaus Ertz, Christa Nitze-Ertz, C. Marten van Cleve, 1624-1581, Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings, Flemish Painters Around the Great Masters, vol. 9, Lingen 2014, cat. 167.