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| Merry Company on a Terrace |
In this final painting around 1673-75, Steen threw himself as a drunk innkeeper on the left. The artist's second wife, Maria, probably mimics a provocative hostess (she wears aprons) in the middle.
The glass and jug of the fat man are sexually suggestive, but the intimacy of the woman with the young musician and her crystal form shows that she has more to offer her.
The over-dressed boys serve as a marginal comment on adult behavior: the curled horse and the whip usually stand for Temperance, but not when attached to the spoiled brat and the angry dog.
The man with the sausage pinned on his hat was Hans Wurst, a familiar fool of the comic stage.
Steen incorrectly combines symbols and themes (for example, raising children and Garden of Love) into original creation, just like the style of images that seem to combine oil and water by mixing the manners of Gerard ter Borch and Jacob Jordaens.
Artist:
Jan Steen (Dutch, Leiden 1626–1679 Leiden)
Date:
ca. 1670
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
55 1/2 x 51 3/4 in. (141 x 131.4 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Fletcher Fund, 1958
Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org
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