The Lovesick Maidenca. 1660
A pale young woman sits slumped and listless, attended by a doctor, while others look on. More about this work
About this work
A pale young woman sits slumped and listless, attended by a doctor, while others look on. In Jan Steen’s many versions of the doctor’s visit, the diagnosis is never really medical: clues around the room, such as the bed and the little dog, point to love or even pregnancy, and the solemn physician is often a figure of fun. Contemporary viewers relished decoding such details. Steen tells the story with crisp light, rich fabrics and a comedian’s timing.
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
- 46.13.2
- 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
