Henri Leys – A Flemish Wedding Celebration in the Seventeenth Century, 1839

by Atelier Liesjes

A wedding party has gathered in the gateway of an old Flemish house. On the left stands the bride in a loose-fitting, ivory-white satin gown, with a wreath in her hair; beside her is the groom in a dark suit with a wide white collar. Behind them, guests are gathered beneath a pergola overgrown with vines, where musicians are playing the flute and bagpipes. On the right is a long table laid with a white linen tablecloth; men in ruff collars raise their glasses, women in cloaks look on, and two children in the centre – a girl in green, a boy in blue – form a little world of their own. In the foreground stands a small white and brown dog; to the left lie brass kettles, a tub and vegetables on a wooden bench.
Leys sets the celebration in the seventeenth century, but paints it through nineteenth-century eyes: the clothing has been meticulously studied, the gestures are somewhat stiff, and the faces have a puppet-like quality. That archaic character is precisely what his contemporaries so appreciated. The composition is at once lively and controlled, with the bride serving as a focal point in the centre and the dark gateway framing the scene.
The colours are rich and warm: ivory white, deep blue, ruby red, golden brown and the green of the foliage. The sky above the rooftops is soft and pearlescent. The style is historical painting and genre art in the tradition of Belgian Romanticism, with influences from seventeenth-century Flemish and Dutch painting. The theme is community, tradition and cheerfulness; the mood is festive yet tinged with a touch of melancholy, as the world Leys evokes has long since vanished.
Hendrik (Henri) Leys (Antwerp 1815 – 1869) was a Belgian painter of historical scenes, genre scenes and portraits. He achieved international fame with his scenes from the Flemish sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and was the teacher of, amongst others, Lawrence Alma-Tadema.