BRUEGEL, Pieter the Elder
(b. ca. 1525, Brogel, d. 1569, Brussel)

Wedding Dance in the Open Air (detail)

1566
Oil on panel
Institute of Arts, Detroit

The bagpipes were considered to exert an especially erotic effect. This portrait of a boisterous dance is a celebration of vitality and fertility. Bruegel has particularly emphasized the codpieces worn by some of the men.