The Dissolute Householdca. 1663–64
A household has slid into disorder: someone has nodded off at the table, a lute lies about, and food, drink and idle company are everywhere. More about this work
About this work
A household has slid into disorder: someone has nodded off at the table, a lute lies about, and food, drink and idle company are everywhere. Jan Steen made such scenes his speciality, so much so that ‘a Jan Steen household’ became a Dutch expression for a chaotic home. The comedy carries a moral, a warning against drink, idleness and neglect, but it is told with such relish and rich detail that the warning is easy to enjoy. Steen often included his own likeness among the offenders in pictures like this.
Written by Ochre Editions.
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
Dutch, 1626–1679 · Born and 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.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Met has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1982.60.31
- Credit
- Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Type
- Paintings
- Department
- European Paintings
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
Report this work
More by Jan Steen
All their works
Close in colour
