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Alexander van Bredael, Antwerp Ommegang, 1697, oil on canvas,
Musée de l’Hospice Comtesse, Lille.
Alexander van Bredael (1663-1720) specialised in the depiction of
street and market scenes, as well as of religious festivities such as the
Antwerp Ommegang on the fifteenth of August, the Feast of The
Assumption. Here, he shows us part of the festive Ommegang on the
Grote Markt, against the background of Antwerp’s Town Hall, the
arrival on the Grote Markt appearing to have been the high point of
the procession. Also in the procession are richly decorated floats with
colourfully dressed persons. To the right is probably the City Chariot
with the city maidens; to the front is The Camel, which was originally
a part of the Christmas crib tableau, but later came to be a separate
feature of the festivities. Hell – depicted as a dark monster-head spewing
fire and smoke – is seen to the left, by the wall of the Town Hall,
and in the centre The Seven Sorrows of Mary.
This and the work by van Bredael mentioned below are both clear
evidence that the Ommegang in Antwerp was a joyous, high-spirited
festive occasion in which people from all walks of life participated.
Here are musicians, clowns and banner-bearers on horseback; a tent is
set up on the square and food is being sold. The spectacle is observed
both from the square and from the Town Hall and guild halls.
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