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Dimensions: 50 by 42cm., 19¾ by 16½in.
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Provenance: Anton Ritter von Oelzelt, Vienna (sale: P. Kaeser, Vienna, 18 November 1878, lot 85)
The Sachler Collection, Vienna (purchased at the above sale)
Sale: S. Kendes Auktion-Institut, Vienna, 3 November 1919, lot 215
Purchased at the above sale by the family of the present owner; thence by descent
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Exhibited: Basel, Kunsthalle, Ausstellung von Werken des 19. Jahrhunderts aus Basler Privatbesitz, 1943, no. 153
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Literature: Friedrich von Boetticher, Malerwerke des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, vol. II.2, Dresden, 1901, p. 969, no. 119, catalogued
Bruno Grimschitz, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Salzburg, 1957, p. 326, no. 544, catalogued & illustrated
Rupert Feuchtmüller, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Vienna, 1996, p. 121, discussed; p. 478, no. 601, catalogued & illustrated
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Notes: PROPERTY FROM A SWISS PRIVATE COLLECTION
This work, which Rupert Feuchtmüller singles out for special attention in the introduction to his catalogue raisonné and describes in great detail (p. 121), was painted at the height of Waldmüller's artistic powers and epitomises the Bauerngenre (peasant genre) for which he was so popular. In this quintessentially classical composition, framed by a pyramid of helpers representing the three generations, the young bridesmaid takes centre stage as she is crowned with a wreath of roses in readiness for the wedding that lies ahead. She, and the figures around her, are lifted from the shadows of the porch by the bright sunlight streaming in from the outside, further heightening the theatricality of the moment depicted. However, underlying the classical construction of the composition is a loving attention to detail, which grounds the scene in time and space and makes it a veritable fountain of information about rural life in the Salzkammergut. Waldmüller depicts the overhanging eaves and plank walls in painstaking detail; sickles have been stuck in the wood, scythes hang on the wall, a pair of felt slippers lies discarded beside an earthenware pot; while the local costumes have all been copied meticulously. Not to be overlooked is the verdant mountain landscape so compellingly hinted at which, like the scene unfolding in the foreground, is so evocative of a place Waldmüller held dear. Taking up less than a quarter of the picture plane, the glimpse of the mountainside is like a painting within a painting, bearing witness to Waldmüller's genius as a landscape painter and his love of the green wilderness with its cool shadows and its grasses, stones, streams, and leaves touched by the sun.
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