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Photographer: Jan Steen (courtesy of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam via Wikimedia Commons)
Taken: 1668
Caption: The Merry Family
Additional Description: Daily life was Jan Steen's main pictorial theme. Many of the genre scenes he portrayed…are lively to the point of chaos and lustfulness, even so much that "a Jan Steen household", meaning a messy scene, became a Dutch proverb (een huishouden van Jan Steen). Subtle hints in his paintings seem to suggest that Steen meant to warn the viewer rather than invite him to copy this behaviour. Many of Steen's paintings bear references to old Dutch proverbs or literature. He often used members of his family as models, and painted quite a few self-portraits in which he showed no tendency to vanity. Jan Steen’s works followed the theme "every painter paints himself", depicting lively scenes reminiscent of his own home... - Wikipedia
Submitted: July 10, 2023, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California.
Database Locator Identification Number: p735831
File Size: 1.195 Megabytes

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