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The Penny Wedding

Printmaker: Stewart, James Struthers, RSA · 1791-1863Publisher: Moon, Boys and GravesPrimary artist: Wilkie, David, Sir, RA HRSA · 1785-1841

The Penny Wedding

One of several engravings made by Stewart after Wilkie

One of several engravings made by Stewart after Wilkie

Wilkie's original painting, executed in 1818, was first exhibited at the RA AX in 1819 (cat.153). It was painted for King George IV and remains in the Royal Collections Trust collections whose website gives the following background; "In 1813 at a Royal Academy dinner the Prince Regent asked Wilkie to paint a companion to the ‘Blind-Man’s Buff' (OM 1175, 405537) already in his collection. This picture had itself been painted as a pair to Edward Bird’s ‘Country Choristers’ (OM 685, 405540) and hung with it in the ‘Upper Anti Room’ at Carlton House. This episode suggests that George IV liked groups of closely related paintings, without needing to pair them off two-by-two, something confirmed by many odd-numbered groups in the collection. Wilkie was paid 500 guineas for the work in 1819, the same year that it was exhibited at the Royal Academy. Many drawings exist for individual figures and groups.

Wilkie chose to depict a type of marriage ceremony, common in Scotland, where the guests each paid a penny towards the expenses and anything left over went towards the couple’s new home. The subject was already known, having been treated by David Allen (1744-96) in a painting in Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick. The idea of the subject would seem to be that no richer couple could be happier, more loving, gracious and handsome, and no father of the bride could offer hospitality more generous and convivial than this, laid on by the community as a whole. Money certainly couldn’t buy a better fiddler than Niel Gow (1727-1807), clearly recognisable here; Robert Burns’s description of his ‘kind open-heartedness, mixed with unmistrusting simplicity’ would probably sum up Wilkie’s intention in the scene as a whole.

Wilkie's original painting was executed in 1818, Stewart's engraving on which he had worked for two years was published by Messrs Moon, Boys and Graves on 1832-04-16