Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/149

 i JAN STEEN 125 ascribed to Brouwer. It does not appear in the 1901 catalogue, and is probably withdrawn from exhibition. 24! inches by 31^ inches. Purchased by the Emperor Alexander III., and transferred in 1882 from the Chateau Monplaisir to the Hermitage. Now in the Hermitage Palace, St. Petersburg, 1895 catalogue, No. 1789. 467. A VILLAGE WEDDING. W. 161. A cottage-room, from the ceiling of which hang branches, is filled with wedding guests. The bridal pair are being conducted to their chamber, up two steps. The elderly and ill-favoured bridegroom grasps the hesitating bride who wears a black dress and a red skirt by both arms to pull her on. A fair-haired boy pushes her from the other side ; he carries a warming-pan and looks smilingly towards the spectator. At the door of the chamber some persons are waiting ; among them is a stout old woman holding a candle. Near the window to the left a table is laid ; an old woman and a couple sit at it, before a large ham. Three children look in through the window. In front of the table sits a young woman suckling her child. On the floor are a jug, a dish, and a wine-cooler. The picture is said to have been sent by the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm from Brussels to the court of Vienna in 1651, but it is incredible that it was painted before that year. It is very broad and somewhat sketchy in style, but excellently invented. The infant nursed by the woman on the left is somewhat too fat. Canvas, 22| inches by 27 inches. Described by Wagler, Ch. Blanc, Viardot. [W. has no sufficient reason for identifying it with the picture of the D. letswaart sale, Amsterdam, 1749 (47 r )-] Mentioned for the first time at the transference of the Vienna Gallery pictures from the Stallburg to the Belvedere (Mechel, 1783, p. 94, No. 5). Now in the Imperial Picture Gallery, Vienna, 1896 catalogue, No. 1269. A copy ascribed to the painter himself was No. 369 in the J. J. Chapuis sale, Brussels, December 4, 1865, measuring 26 inches by 31 inches. It came from the Verbelen collection, Brussels, 1833, where it ranked as an original. 468. JESTING AT A WEDDING. The bride is led into her chamber by a numerous company. She stands in the centre with loosened bodice and hair hanging down her back. A man holds out a pot to her. A seated woman takes a spoonful of something from a bowl and offers it to her. To the right is a fiddler, in front of the bed. The young bride- groom is not introduced. Two girls seek to keep the door closed. A woman holds up a bed-pan. There are in all from twenty-five to thirty persons. Signed on the floor to the left of the centre with the monogram ; panel, 24 inches by 23 inches. Described by Parthey (ii. No. 34). Now in the Schloss, Dessau, No. 269. 468*. A Wedding. Sale. Amsterdam, September 24, 1686 (Hoet, i. 5), No. 2 (130 florins).