Burlesque Feast

genre

This motley banquet is a satirical depiction of a peasant wedding to which a number of guests have been invited, all equally bizarre and absurd. The scene, packed with anecdotes and symbols, unfolds in an interior in which the guests, following mediaeval custom, are seated at one side only of the tables, according to their rank. The main character is a stout and slovenly bride wearing a crown of wooden spoons, the symbol of gluttony, and eggshells, the symbol of crassitude and lechery.

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About the Artist

Jan Mandijn

1500 – 1559

Flemish painter of north Netherlandish origin. He was trained in Haarlem but moved to Antwerp before 1530. Pieter Aertsen was living with Mandijn c. 1535, when Aertsen moved from Amsterdam to Antwerp. In 1537 Mandijn painted a copper memorial plaque for the Bishop of Dunkeld in Scotland, and he collaborated on the decoration of triumphal arches for Philip II's entrance into Antwerp in 1549. He took on pupils in Antwerp until 1559, the best known of whom are Hans van der Elburcht (active 1536-53), Gillis Mostaert and Bartholomäus Spranger. The connection with Mandijn may explain the common stylistic features of the work of Aertsen and van der Elburcht.

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