Constant Eechault (Belgian, 19th Century)

Oil on panel, signed and dated 1870.

Painting size: 25.75” x 35.75”
Frame size: 32.5” x 42.5”

Constant Eechault was primarily a landscape painter, but in this work, he explores the Victorian fascination with 17th Century Dutch genre scenes and, perhaps, his own artistic heritage.

A bride and groom make a progress through a town street to a reception outside a stately home. In keeping with Dutch paintings’ focus on material culture, the busy scene is filled with as many sumptuous objects-- the elaborate 17th century costumes, the table laden with platters and glassware, the string instruments-- as it is figures. The bride herself is resplendent in a blue and white silk dress and a strand of pearls. Holding a bouquet of pink roses, she looks to an old woman at the left carrying a matching bouquet. Perhaps she is a close relative of the bride who, leaning on her cane, is reflecting on her own wedding day many years ago. Her presence, in combination with the bride and the young children scattering flowers, serves as an evocation of life’s cycles.