i JAN STEEN 129 483. A Village Wedding. Sm. 142 ; W. 223. The scene is laid in the street. The bridegroom, accompanied by two friends, descends the steps before his house to receive the bride. Behind him a man raises his hat as if to salute the bride, who comes between two women, followed by her friends and the village gossips. A woman strews flowers ; a fiddler and a bagpiper are playing. There are numerous other groups ; in all there are thirty-eight figures. Canvas, 27 inches by 34^ inches. In the collection of Baron Lockhorst, Rotterdam, 1824. Bought with the collection by Galli and taken to Scotland (Sm.). 484. The Wedding. Sm. 135 ; W. 120. In a large room about twenty persons are assembled. The bride, wearing a red jacket, a blue skirt, and a crown on her head, is led by a man holding a candle to the bridal chamber. She hesitates and, with tears in her eyes, turns round to an old woman whose gesture indicates the necessity of yielding. The other guests appear to be of the same opinion. Farther back is a young man the bridegroom or lover? weeping. A fiddler and another man stand at the foot of the stairs. A boy carries a bench and a man sits on the floor holding a jug. " A well-finished picture " (Sm.). Panel, inches by 2o| inches. In the collection of John Newington Hughes, 1833 (Sm.). 484*7. A Forced Marriage -Contract in a Cottage Room. Spirited in expression and finely executed. Canvas, 14 J inches by n| inches. Possibly identical with 481. Sale. J. Jelgerhuis and A. J. Saportas, Amsterdam, December 12, 1836, No. 50. 484^. A Wedding. W. 195. A young girl is led to her bride- groom. A woman and children strew flowers on the path. Musicians sit in a gallery over a door. Sale. Count Robiano, Brussels, May i, 1837 (according to W., but no such picture is mentioned in the sale catalogue). Probably identical with 461. 485. An Interior with several Peasants. A young man is com- pelled to marry his betrothed. Panel, 1 7 inches by 1 1 1 inches. Sale. A. Pluym, Amsterdam, November 24, 1846, No. 38 (16 florins). 485^7. Steen and his Family making Merry at the Wedding of his Daughter. Sales. C. Brind, London, 1849 (^109, Theobald). T. Capron, London, 1851 ( 1 57 ' los -> bought in). 486. A Wedding. Numerous guests are diverting themselves in a hall lit by two chandeliers. A laughing man leads the bride to a staircase on the left, which goes up to the bridal chamber. At the top stands a maid-servant ; her figure is brightly illuminated by a candle which she holds VOL. i K
