Jan Steen was one of the leading masters of genre scenes in the golden age of Dutch, when the Dutch genre flourished to pinnacle as the success of Dutch Revolt resulted in blossom of economy and the birth of capitalism and bourgeois. The shifting power from republicans to capitalists ushered sufficient income in people’s hands to abundant demand for artistic productions.
Jan Steen started painterly apprenticeship with Nicoalus Knüpfer and then six years of assisting his father-in-law Jan Van Goyen in Hague, where was the capital of paintings. As such prolific and productive Artist as he was, this work of art was painted in his prime of life. Depicting daily life had been his strong suit, the carousing and bacchanals alike genre scenes were fond by Dutch so much that the dissolute household in Dutch (een huishouden van Jan Steen) was a famous expression referring to the lifestyle of Jan Steen painted in his work of art.
It is evident to see how Dutch genre - oil on canvas, was fused with Steen’s work, the richness of transparent shadow
…show more content…
Quite coincidentally to the modern concept, “Less is more,” the look on her face invites the viewers to be more involved in this sheer relaxation. In the center of party, the kittens on a pillow and their mom being coddled in damsel’ arms makes this work interpreted with another title, i.e. “The Cat Family.”
Steen’s works are prided as a moralizing and yet humorous messages of cultural values at that time — how the lavish lives of those newfound middle-class should one be warned. In this convivial scene, the reader looked amused by the story is a self-portrait of Steen, where a skull placed above his head is in stark contrast of, not only the consensual amusement seen from his dimpled smile, but of joyful occasion fizzed with