A Wedding Dance in a Barn

Cornelis Mahu (1613-1689)

Ca 1647. Oil on wood

Cornelis Mahu became the master of the Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp in 1638. His creative legacy consists mainly of paintings made after the works of renowned Dutch and Flemish masters of the time. The painting “A Wedding Dance in a Barn” is an example of Mahu’s independent creation, yet it is very similar to the works of his contemporary, the genre painter Jan Miense Molenaer from Haarlem.

Mahu painted compositions similar to “A Wedding Dance in a Barn” on several occasions, adding only a few minor alterations. Some of the works bear Mahu’s signature, while others were made as studio copies; the signature on the painting apparently refers to the high quality of the studio’s production. The red primer covering the back of the painting was also a sign of the “product’s” good quality, because it improved the painting’s resistance to climatic