Pieter van der Heyden: The Dirty bride (1570)

(Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

An engraving by the Flemish artist Pieter van der Heyden (1530-1572), after a design by the Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569). This print shows a group of street performers putting on a comic folk play, The Dirty Bride (De Vuile Bruid) on the occasion of Shrovetide, the three days before Ash Wednesday. The woman with shabby clothes being led out of the tent is Nisa while the prancing groom who leads her out is Mopsus. The story itself comes from the Eighth Eclogue of the Roman poet Virgil. The latin line below quotes the eight eclogue of Virgil: Mopso Nisa datur, quid non speremus amantes ("Mopsus marries Nisa, what may not lovers hope for!"). This is, in Virgil's poem, an ironic lament spoken by a certain Damon whose beloved, Nisa, has been won and wed by Mopsus, a rival shepherd of Arcady.