Master of Frankfurt: The festival of the archers (1493)

(Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium)

A painting by an unknown Flemish artist with the notname 'Master of Frankfurt (1460 - 1533). This painting depicts a festival of the four civic guard guilds of Antwerp. Besides training is the use of bows, crossbows and muskets these guilds also organized competitions and parties. The festival depicted here celebrates the winner of such a competition (he is the one sitting under a golden key in the center of the painting). The rest of the people are busy eating, drinking and dancing. Although the party is closed off by a wooden fence (the party is apparently for invites only), people are trying to get in. the closed part could be an allegory for paradise. The man next to the woman in white who holds a dog is a self-portrait of the artist. Painting from 1493.