The Procession of the Bride

The composition is unusual, although not unique, in Brueghel's repertoire in being an invention neither of his own, nor of his father's, but instead of Marten van Cleve's. It is one from the series of five or six (depending on the set) depicting events during a country wedding. The subjects were for long regarded as by Pieter Breughel II until they were reattributed (dealing with a series of five formerly with Galerie Giroux, Brussels, 1930; and of six formerly in the Schütz van Leerodt collection), to Marten van Cleve by Georges Marlier (Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Brussels, 1969, p. 343). For some reason, Brueghel only adopted - and adapted, as here - two of Van Cleve's compositions, the Procession of the Bride and the Procession of the Bridegroom (examples of which are those formerly in the Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City, until sold, Christie's, New York, 6 June 1984, lot 199).