# Merry Company on a Terrace

**Jan Steen** (Dutch, 1626–1679)  
ca. 1670  
Oil on canvas  
55 1/2 x 51 3/4 in. (141 x 131.4 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 58.89. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437749).

## About this work

Jan Steen painted this in about 1670, aged about 39. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Jan Steen](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/jan-steen)

Dutch, 1626–1679; born in Leiden; died in Leiden

Steen was born in Leiden, the son of a brewer, and worked there and in The Hague, Delft and Haarlem; for a time he also ran a brewery and later an inn. He was one of the most inventive Dutch genre painters, filling crowded, comic scenes of households, taverns and feasts with moral warnings drawn from proverbs and the theatre. A disorderly home is still called “a Jan Steen household” in Dutch. He also painted portraits and biblical subjects.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Paintings
- The artist was about 39
- Real size: about 56 × 52 in (141 × 131 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 24 × 36 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 17th century
- Subjects: Food, Children, Men, Women, Dogs, Dining, Musicians, Toys
- Colour: black
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1161.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1161/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/merry-company-on-a-terrace-met-437749).