Country Wedding, Bishop White Officiating

This painting of a country wedding captures the ritual and material culture of this important day in the life of a comfortably well-off American family. William White, the first Anglican Bishop of Philadelphia, weds the young couple. Directly above the couple is a cage with two doves billing and cooing, symbolizing peace and wedded bliss, while a print above the fireplace entitled Marriage further illustrates the state of ideal union. Household objects such as Windsor chairs and Pennsylvania pottery are depicted with such detail that decorative arts scholars use Krimmel’s paintings to study period American furniture and ceramics. Krimmel was a native of Germany who settled in Philadelphia in 1810, began exhibiting his work at the Academy in 1811, and is best known for his scenes of everyday life in early national America.