
Dutch Golden Age painter Jan Steen (c.1626-1679) created lively genre scenes with humor and psychological insight unmatched by his contemporaries. His rowdy households, boisterous taverns, and chaotic family gatherings are so characteristic that "a Jan Steen household" became a Dutch proverb for messy scenes. Unlike moralistic genre painters, Steen approached his subjects with comic warmth, often comparing him to playwright Moliere. He frequently included himself and family members in his paintings.
Steen trained under Nicolaus Knupfer, Adriaen van Ostade, and Jan van Goyen, whose daughter he married. He co-founded the Leiden painters' Guild of Saint Luke in 1648 with Gabriel Metsu. Between paintings, Steen ran a brewery called "The Snake" in Delft without much success and later opened a tavern when the art market collapsed in 1672. He produced about 800 paintings, 350 surviving, including 70 history paintings. His technical skill rivaled the Leiden "fine painters" in rendering textures. Works hang at the Mauritshuis, the Rijksmuseum, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
23 paintings catalogued with museum locations

Jan Steen
Private Collection, Unknown

Jan Steen, 1668
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Jan Steen
Skokloster Castle, Håbo Municipality, Håbo

Jan Steen
Mauritshuis, The Hague

Jan Steen
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Jan Steen
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Jan Steen
Gemeentemuseum den Haag, Hague, The Hague

Jan Steen
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Jan Steen
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH, Toledo

Jan Steen
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Jan Steen
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Jan Steen
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ottawa

Jan Steen
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Jan Steen
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Jan Steen
Wallace Collection, London

Jan Steen
Mauritshuis, The Hague

Jan Steen
Private Collection, Unknown

Jan Steen
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Jan Steen
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Jan Steen
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Jan Steen
National Gallery, London

Jan Steen
Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Rotterdam

Jan Steen, 1665
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
14 museums display Steen's works. Click any museum to see visiting info and the specific works they hold.


Unknown, Unknown
2 works on display

New York, USA
1 work on display

London, UK
1 work on display



St. Petersburg, Russia
3 works on display

Florence, Italy
1 work on display



Amsterdam, Netherlands
6 works on display

Munich, Germany
1 work on display

London, United Kingdom
1 work on display


The Hague, Netherlands
2 works on display

The Hague, Netherlands
1 work on display

Rotterdam, Netherlands
1 work on display

Ottawa, Canada
1 work on display

Toledo, US
1 work on display

Håbo, Sweden
1 work on display
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