Wedding feast 1748

This is Paul Egell’s Wedding Feast, a delicate drawing rendered in pen and grey ink, its date currently unknown. As a sculptor in the 18th century, Egell would have been deeply embedded in a hierarchical, patronage-based art world. Consider what it meant to depict a wedding feast during this time. It wasn’t merely a scene of celebration, but a reflection of social status and power. Who is invited to the feast? Who is serving? These details speak volumes about the structure of society at the time. The scene invites us to consider the role of women in 18th-century marriages, often a matter of economic and social strategy. Are they active participants or passive figures in this arrangement? Do the individuals involved have a say in their fate, or are they bound by duty and tradition? What emotions might lie beneath the surface of this formal occasion? The artwork, then, becomes more than just a depiction of a feast; it’s a lens through which we can examine the complexities of identity, power, and emotion.