# The Dissolute Household

**Jan Steen** (Dutch, 1626–1679)  
ca. 1663–64  
Oil on canvas  
42 1/2 x 35 1/2 in. (108 x 90.2 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982.60.31. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437747).

## 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._

Jan Steen painted this in about 1663–64, aged about 37. 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 37
- Real size: about 43 × 36 in (108 × 90 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 24 × 36 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 17th century
- Subjects: Food, Interiors, Sleeping, Men, Women, Lutes, Cats, Drinking
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1159.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1159/1920.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/the-dissolute-household-met-437747).