The woman slumped on the left, whose purse is being picked by a child on the extreme left, is sleeping off the effects of alcohol. As in many other paintings by Steen, it is the foolishness of their elders that encourages the children to misbehave. Here the child throwing roses to the pig illustrates a popular saying about foolish behaviour (to throw roses before swine). In the background an old man is seducing a young girl, another of the pitfalls of alcohol. As in many of Steen's paintings the coarse subject is in sharp contrast to the refined rendering of the various textures of the objects on the floor and the shimmering fabrics.
Jan Steen was born at Leiden, where he mainly worked, with periods in Haarlem, Utrecht and The Hague.He was a lifelong Catholic, and also produced religious and mythological paintings. His father was a brewer and leased a brewery for Steen at Delft (1654-57). In 1672 he was licensed to keep an inn at Leiden. Jan Steen attended Leiden University in 1646; his paintings often contain literary or theatrical references.
[Oil on wood, 76 x 106.5 cm]
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