(Antwerp circa 1509–1575)
The bride being led to the bridal bed,
oil on panel, 77 x 108 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, France;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Pieter van den Brink for confirming the attribution after inspection of the original.

The early pictures of Jan Massys were inspired by the works of his father Quentin. Subsequently the painter developed a personal style, having been active abroad absorbing new influences, including those from the School of Fontainebleau and the Northern Renaissance. In particular, Jan emphasised the primacy of the figure set in complex poses with discrepancies in scale between both the figures and their setting. The present work epitomises these characteristics, with eight figures arranged to fill the panel, only leaving some space for the bed on the left-hand side. The protagonist – the bride at the centre of the composition – is enclosed by figures dressed in rustic clothing typical of Netherlandish fashion of the time.

During the Reformation, the bedding ceremony was associated with rituals that assigned socio-economic rights and duties to a bride as a housewife. In sixteenth-century Northern Europe, the bedding ceremony was performed to the sound of pipes, drums and loud noises, after which the couple was left alone, and the guests continued celebrating loudly enough for the newlyweds not to be heard. In many places, the couples were dressed for bed separately by their family or the community and then led to the bedroom, as in the present painting.