Jan Steen (painter)
Jan Steen was a prominent seventeenth-century Dutch painter known for his vibrant and often humorous depictions of everyday life in the Netherlands. Born around 1625 in Leiden, Steen was the son of a grain merchant and brewer. He received a solid education, eventually co-founding the Guild of St. Luke, which supported local artists. Throughout his career, Steen produced over eight hundred works, which included lively scenes of family gatherings, tavern life, and moral narratives woven from Dutch proverbs. His paintings showcased a unique blend of humor and social commentary, often infused with Catholic values.
Despite experiencing financial difficulties and personal tragedies—including the deaths of his first wife and mother—Steen continued to paint, gaining posthumous acclaim after his death in 1679. His works were largely unrecognized during his lifetime, primarily due to the economic challenges facing the Dutch art market at the time. Modern scholars celebrate Steen for his imaginative compositions and acute characterizations, contributing significantly to the genre painting tradition. Notably, he is remembered in contemporary Dutch culture, where disordered homes are colloquially referred to as "Jan Steen households."
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Jan Steen (painter)
Painter
- Born: c. 1625
- Place of Birth: Leiden, the Netherlands
- Died: February 3, 1679
- Place of Death: Leiden, the Netherlands
- Significance: Jan Steen was a seventeenth-century artist known for painting witty scenes of Dutch life. Steen's paintings often featured lively, chaotic scenes, and the painter was known to insert subtle hints about his imagery into his work. Despite his prolific career, Steen's works did not receive much notice during his life, primarily because the Dutch were struggling to recover from a series of wars with England. In the years after his death, his paintings became some of the most celebrated works in Dutch art history.
Background
Jan Steen was born in the town of Leiden in Holland, now known as the Netherlands. Although the exact date of his birth is unknown, historians estimate he was born around 1625. His father, Havick Steen, was a grain merchant and brewer. His mother was the daughter of Leiden's city clerk. Steen was the eldest of eight children. He received a primary school education and attended Latin school. Documents show he was twenty years old when he entered the University of Leiden in 1646. Two years later, he cofounded the Guild of St. Luke in Leiden. This guild consisted of Leiden's community of artists and painters, named for St. Luke, the patron saint of artists.
Steen studied with a number of Dutch painters throughout his early career, including Nikolaus Knupfer, Adriaen van Ostade, and Jan van Goyen. Steen married van Goyen's daughter, Margriet, in 1649. The pair lived in The Hague, where Steen was in a civic guard company until approximately 1654. Historians believe Steen then moved to Delft, where his father leased a brewery called the Snake on his son's behalf. The lease was renewed through 1657, but the brewing industry was in decline during this period and the business eventually failed. Scholars attribute the collapse of Steen's business to his poor managerial skills and the state of the Dutch economy at this time. The country was experiencing a desperate period throughout the mid-1600s following the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652–1654). After the closure of his brewery, Steen relocated to the small town of Warmond near Leiden.
Steen did not make much money as a painter due to the effect the war had on the art market. He continued to paint regardless of his circumstances. His early work reflected an interest in still life paintings, suggesting he was in contact with some of Leiden's fijnschilders (fine painters). Steen moved to Haarlem in 1660 and was admitted into the Guild of St. Luke there in 1661. He spent the next nine years creating some of his most memorable paintings. The outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667) in 1665 further diminished Steen's art income. He racked up a large debt that he was still trying to pay off by 1667.
Life's Work
Steen's work throughout the 1660s included a number of large canvas paintings featuring scenes of family gatherings and parties. Many of these paintings were designed to call to mind Dutch proverbs or symbols, and Steen was known to sprinkle moral messages into his work. He also depicted characters from popular literature and theater, such as those found in Italy's commedia dell'arte and the Dutch dramatic society rederijkerskamers (chamber of rhetoric). Alongside his culture paintings, Steen's work throughout the 1660s and 1670s featured a number of historical and religious figures, particularly those related to his Catholic faith.
Steen's fortunes improved by the end of the decade, but tragedy struck in 1669 when his wife and then his mother died. His father died the following year. The family house in Leiden was left to Steen, and he moved his children there in 1670. He rejoined Leiden's artist guild and held several offices within the group over the next few years, including hoofdman (captain). In 1672, he acquired a license to open an inn. He remarried in 1673 and opened a tavern called the Peace. In 1674, he was elected dean of Leiden's guild.
Steen dated very few of his paintings. As a result, historians can only speculate when some of his works were completed. His style also varied throughout his career, as did his subject matter. Steen was just as likely to paint a rowdy tavern scene as he was to paint a more refined setting. Much of his work was instilled with his Catholic values, and he painted more than sixty religious paintings during his lifetime. These paintings depicted ancient stories as if they were taking place in seventeenth-century Holland, which reminded viewers that even history was full of humanity and humor. He applied these aesthetics to his own self-portraits, which far from flattered the artist. Steen possessed a sharp eye for light and texture, and his preference for subtle coloring set him apart from many painters of his time. The artist produced more than eight hundred works during his relatively short life. Steen died in 1679 at the age of fifty-three, and he was buried in Leiden on February 3, 1679.
Steen once again drew the art world's attention in 2018 when a painting held in the collection of Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) was determined to have been his work. Although it was originally thought to be a copy of Steen's work, Mauritshuis confirmed Steen as the painter responsible for The Mocking of Samson after a careful examination. The painting was restored and went on display at Mauritshuis in The Hague.
Impact
Although Steen did not have any pupils to mentor during his career, several notable painters imitated his style after his death. Art scholars praise Steen's work for its rich characterizations and Steen for his remarkable imagination. He became primarily known throughout history for his humorous genre paintings, which depicted life as social satire. The subject matter of Steen's works gave rise to the idea that the artist was a shameless drunk, though there is no evidence Steen was a drinker. Nonetheless, modern Dutch society is known to refer to rowdy, messy households as "Jan Steen households."
Personal Life
Steen married Margriet van Goyen on October 3, 1649. The couple had eight children together before Margriet's death in 1669. Steen married Maria van Egmont in 1673, with whom he had two more children.
Bibliography
Chilvers, Ian. The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists.Oxford UP, 2009.
"Jan Havicksz Steen." Ruks Museum, www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio/artists/jan-havicksz-steen. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
"Jan Steen."The J. Paul Getty Museum, www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/181/jan-steen-dutch-1626-1679/. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
"Jan Steen." National Gallery, www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/jan-steen. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
Liedtke, Walter A., et al.Vermeer and the Delft School. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001.
"Maurithuis Rediscovers Jan Steen Painting." Historians of Netherlandish Art, hnanews.org/maurithuis-rediscovers-jan-steen-painting/. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
"Painting is a genuine Jan Steen artwork, not a copy, museum says." CTV News, 9 Feb. 2018, www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/painting-is-a-genuine-jan-steen-artwork-not-a-copy-museum-says-1.3796599. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
"Steen, Jan." National Gallery of Art, www.nga.gov/Collection/artist-info.1901.html. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.