Background

Jan Steen was born approximately in 1626 in Leiden, Holland, Dutch Republic (present-day Leiden, Netherlands). He was a son of Havick Steen and Elisabet Capiteyn, a daughter of a town clerk. The couple was Catholic and had at least eight children. Moreover, they were brewers, who ran the tavern "The Red Halbert".

Education

Initially, Jan attended the Latin school and in 1646, he entered Leiden University, but did not complete his courses there. Later, the painter studied under the guidance of Nikolaus Knüpfer in Utrecht.

Moreover, many experts believe, that he was also inspired by other artists, like Adriaen van Ostade and Isaac van Ostade, but it is not known, whether he had actually studied under them.

Career

In 1648, together with Gabriël Metsu and others, Jan founded the painters' Guild of Saint Luke in Leiden. Soon after that, he was appointed an assistant to a well-known landscape painter Jan van Goyen and moved into his house in The Hague. Steen worked with van Goyen until 1654, when he left for Delft, where he ran the brewery "De Slang" ("The Snake") for three years without much success.

Between 1656-1660, the painter lived in Warmond, and during the period from 1660 till 1670, he resided in Haarlem. During these period, Jan was especially productive and created many works. In 1670, Steen settled down in Leiden, where he remained till the end of his life.

Later, in 1672, in the "disaster year", which is also known as the "rampjaar", the painter opened a tavern. In 1674, Steen became the President of Guild of Saint Luke. Also, it was at that time, that he befriended another Dutch painter, Frans van Mieris the Elder.

During Steen’s last years, his paintings began to anticipate the Rococo style of the 18th century, becoming increasingly elegant and somewhat less energetic and showing a heavy French influence and an increased flamboyance.

Achievements

• Jan Steen gained prominence as a prolific painter, who produced about 800 paintings, of which only 350 survived. His major works include "Peasants before an Inn" (1653), "Rhetoricians at a Window" (1658-1665), "The Merry Family" (1668), "Beware of Luxury" (1663), "The Dancing Couple" (1663), "Marriage of Tobias and Sarah" (1660), "The Feat of St. Nicolas" (1665-1668) and others.
  
  Moreover, Steen was also known as a co-founder and President of Guild of Saint Luke.
  
  Many of his works are kept in Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Portrait of Geertruy Gael, Second Wife of Gerrit Gerritsz Schouten

  • Liveliest

  • Quack

  • Dancing couple(detail)

  • Wedding of Tobias and Sarah

  • Self-portrait with a lute

  • Life of Man

  • Village Festival with the Ship of Saint Rijn Uijt

  • Tric Trac Players

  • Dancing couple (detail)

  • Morning Toilet

  • Burgher of Delft and his Daughter

  • Doctor's Visit

  • Schoolmaster

  • Woman at Her Toilet

  • Feast of St. Nicholas

  • Family holiday

  • Skittle Players outside an Inn

  • Action Proves the Man

  • Dancing couple (detail)

  • Dancing couple (detail)

  • A village wedding

  • Mother and Child

  • Dancing couple (detail)

  • Leaving the Tavern

  • Marriage Contract

  • Sick woman

  • Fat Kitchen

  • Baker Oostwaert and his wife

  • Love Sickness

  • School teacher

  • Doctor's Visit

  • Dancing couple (detail)

  • The Dancing Couple

  • Dissolute Household

  • Idlers

  • Prayer before Meal

  • In the Tavern

  • Sacrifice of Iphigenia

  • Bathsheba Receiving David's Letter

  • Twin Birth Celebration

  • Effects of Intemperance

  • Dancing couple(detail)

  • Wedding Feast at Cana

  • Sick woman

  • The way you hear it

  • Nocturnal Serenade

  • Dissolute Household

  • Girl eating oysters

  • Rhetoricians

  • Doctor's Visit

  • An old to Young Girl

  • Wealth is looking

  • Card players

  • Doctor's visit

  • Supper at Emmaus

  • Pub garden

  • Doctor's visit

  • Portrait of Gerrit Gerritsz Schouten

  • Sick old Man

  • Baptism

  • Wedding of Tobias and Sarah

  • Drunk woman

  • Meal

  • Cat family

  • Quackdoctor

  • Drawing lesson

  • Wine is a Mocker

  • Argument over a Card Game

  • Couple in a Bedroom

  • Dancing couple(detail)

  • Merry Threesom

  • Cheated groom

  • Prince's day

  • Celebrating the Birth

  • Drinker

  • Lean Kitchen

  • Village school

  • Wedding of Sarah and Tobias

  • Twelfth Night

  • Winning speaker

  • Return of the prodigal son

  • Dancing lesson

  • Feast of the Chamber of Rhetoricians near a Town Gate

  • Merry Couple

  • Merry family

  • Easy Come, Easy Go

  • Wrath of Ahasuerus

  • Country Wedding

  • Harpsichord Lesson

  • Prayer before Meal

  • Farmers to skittles

  • Winter Landscape

  • Arrival of a Visitor

  • Worship of Golden Calf

  • Revelry at an Inn

  • Twelfth Night

  • Inn with Violinist & Card Players

  • Peasant Wedding

  • Tavern Scene

  • A Village Wedding

  • Smoker

  • Rhetoricians

  • Samson and Delilah

  • Twelfth Night

  • Woman playing the sistrum

  • A Village Revel

  • Egg Dance

  • Garden Party

  • A Village Wedding Feast with Revellers and a dancing Party

  • Choice between Richness and Youth

  • A Riotous Schoolroom with a Snoozing Schoolmaster

  • Merry Company on a Terrace

  • Peasants before an Inn

  • Parrot cage

  • Amnon and Tamar

  • Little collector

  • Court

  • Samson and Delilah

Personality

Jan's works, such as his "The Effects of Intemperance", contributed to his name being used in Dutch culture. The saying "Jan Steen household" has become part of the Dutch language to describe the kind of lively, untidy home, depicted in so many of his paintings.

Connections

Jan Steen married Margriet Grietje Jans van Goyen on Ocober 3, 1649. She was a daughter of a famous painter Jan Van Goyen. Their marriage produced seven children — Eva, Constantinus, Havick, Johannes, Catharina, Cornelis and Thaddeus. In 1669, Margriet died.

Four years after the death of his first wife, Jan married Maria van Egmont, who bore him a son, named Theodorus.

Father:

Havick Steen

Mother:

Elisabet Capiteyn

child:

Eva Steen

child:

Constantinus Steen

child:

Havick Steen

child:

Johannes Steen

child:

Catharina Steen

child:

Cornelis Steen

child:

Thaddeus Steen

child:

Theodorus Steen

First wife:

Margriet Grietje Jans van Goyen

father-in-law:

Jan van Goyen

Second wife:

Maria van Egmont

mentor:

Nikolaus Knüpfer

colleague:

Gabriël Metsu

Friend:

Frans van Mieris the Elder

References

• Jan Steen: Painter and Storyteller Written by H. Perry Chapman, Wouter Th. Kloek, and Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., with contributions by other noted art historians, this book draws on the most recent scholarship and archival research to reassess Steen within the context of seventeenth-century Netherlandish artistic, literary, and cultural movements. Fifty of Steen's paintings, chosen to demonstrate his consummate skill as both painter and storyteller, are catalogued in detail.
  1996
• Jan Steen: 1626-1679 This book discusses the many works by Steen, held in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and goes on to explore his entire oeuvre. In addition, it also describes his life, his self image and his reputation.
  2006
• Jan Steen: 50 Baroque Paintings This art book contains fifty professionally corrected color reproductions of religious, portraits and daily life scenes with title, date and interesting facts.
  2011