MARTEN VAN CLEVE (Antwerp, c. 1527 – 1581) Attributed - Large village fair with theatrical stage and procession

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GRAND MARCH AUCTION OF OLD MASTERS AND COLONI...

By Templum Fine Art Auctions

Mar 25, 2026

Set Reminder 2026-03-25 10:00:00 2026-03-25 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : GRAND MARCH AUCTION OF OLD MASTERS AND COLONIAL ART https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/templum-fine-art-auctions/grand-march-auction-of-old-masters-and-colonial-art-22766
AUCTION · 25 MARCH · 3:00 PM EXHIBITION OPEN FROM 13 MARCH Templum Fine Art Auctions info@templumauctions.com

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• Lot Description
  Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 170.2 x 291.6 cm. Unframed. Attribution supported by the indications of Dr. Klaus Ertz. This spectacular, large-format composition is a magnificent example of 16th-century Flemish fair scenes, in which the popular celebration becomes a vast repertoire of everyday episodes, social observation, and moral satire. The scene unfolds in a wide village square surrounded by thatched houses, a small church, and dilapidated stone buildings, where peasants from the entire region gather to celebrate the parish festival. The canvas displays an extraordinary narrative richness: carts laden with newly arrived villagers, circle dances, brawls, tavern tables, drunks sprawled on the ground, children playing or fighting, stray animals, and couples embracing enliven every corner of the composition. In the foreground, a large cauldron of soup is suspended over a blazing fire, while in the center rises a carefully arranged theatrical stage, surrounded by onlookers, where the popular farce "Een Cluyte van Peaeyerwater" is being performed. This burlesque play, with its anticlerical undertones, centers on a jealous peasant whose wife is having an affair with the village priest. This theatrical scene is deliberately juxtaposed with the solemn religious procession that advances undisturbed through the crowd, carrying banners and a saint's image on a litter, establishing a powerful tension between devotion and revelry, religiosity and social critique. The painting thus offers not only a brilliant visual inventory of popular life but also an incisive commentary on the poverty of the rural world, social hypocrisy, and the amused—yet simultaneously detached—perspective that the urban elites of the 17th century could cast upon such scenes. In the upper left, almost lost in the crowd, appears a single figure of courtly bearing accompanied by a lady, both seen from behind, while a man in a jester's hood mocks them—a detail that reinforces the satirical nature of the ...
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