The Dissolute Household
by STEEN, Jan, Oil on canvas, 108 x 90 cm
In the 1660s Jan Steen painted this subject and closely related themes in several variations. According to Arnold Houbraken in his biography of Steen, these paintings are emblems of the artist’s disorderly household. This is confirmed by the fact that Steen used members of his immediate family as models. The central figure is a self-portrait.