| The Penny Wedding | |
|---|---|
_-_The_Penny_Wedding_-_RCIN_405536_-_Royal_Collection.jpg) | |
| Artist | David Wilkie |
| Year | 1818 |
| Type | Oil on wood panel, genre painting |
| Dimensions | 65 cm × 96 cm (25.6 in × 37.6 in) |
| Location | Royal Collection |
The Penny Wedding is an 1818 genre painting by the British artist David Wilkie.[1] It depicts a traditional penny wedding in which the guests each paid a penny towards the cost.
Wilkie had toured the Scottish Highlands the previous year but the painting was intentionally vague in its geography. The participants are dressed in old-fashioned Lowland costume, suggesting it was set at least a generation earlier than it was painted[2] possibly as much as fifty years by one estimate.[3]
It was commissioned by the Prince Regent who wanted a companion piece for Blind-Man's Buff, an 1812 work by Wilkie which hung at Carlton House in London. Wilkie was paid 500 guineas for the work which was exhibited at the Royal Academy's 1819 Summer Exhibition at Somerset House. Today it remains in the Royal Collection.[4]
- ^ Errington p.105
- ^ Houston p.172
- ^ Clarke & Remington p.62
- ^ https://www.rct.uk/collection/405536/the-penny-wedding