
Wikimedia Commons • Public Domain
by Jan Steen
Jan Steen depicted a household of poverty in this moralizing scene. The "lean kitchen" shows a family with empty pots, thin faces, and ragged clothes. A cat prowls hopefully, finding nothing. Steen often paired such images with "fat kitchen" scenes showing gluttony, together warning against extremes.
This Dutch Golden Age painter was famous for chaotic household scenes, but here he shows restraint in depicting genuine hardship. The painting served as both social observation and moral instruction: poverty could result from bad fortune or bad behavior, and viewers were meant to consider their own circumstances. It hangs at the National Gallery of Canada.

Camille Corot
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ottawa

Caspar David Friedrich
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ottawa

Jean-François Millet
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ottawa

Edgar Degas
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ottawa
Other masterpieces from the Baroque movement

Frans Hals, 1624
Wallace Collection, London
Johannes Vermeer, 1666
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Johannes Vermeer, 1665
Mauritshuis, The Hague

El Greco, 1614
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Johannes Vermeer, 1670
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Johannes Vermeer, 1664
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Johannes Vermeer, 1663
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Diego Velázquez, 1650
National Gallery, London
Luxury wall art with the same mood and energy. Gallery-quality canvas, no museum crowds.
Browse Collection