Jan Steen

Jan Steen painted the chaotic, funny side of Dutch life: families feasting, children misbehaving, doctors, drunkards and musicians. His scenes are crowded and colourful, full of small stories and moral jokes.

Born in Leiden, he studied with Nicolaes Knupfer and Adriaen van Ostade and with Jan van Goyen, whose daughter he married. He worked in The Hague, Delft, Haarlem and Leiden, and for a time ran a tavern. He painted around 800 pictures, of which about 350 survive. In Dutch “a Jan Steen household” still means a messy home. The Feast of Saint Nicholas and The Merry Family are in the Rijksmuseum.

A Burgher of Delft and His Daughter shows his quieter side, with fine detail and clear light.