Jan Steen

Jan Havickszoon Steen was a Dutch painter who is especially noted for genre scenes. He was born in Leiden and educated at the University of Leiden. He is believed to have studied painting first in Utrecht with the German artist Nicolaus Knupfer, then in The Hague with the Dutch artist Jan van Goyen, whose daughter he married in 1649. Steen lived at The Hague until 1654, when he moved to Delft and, according to tradition, adopted his father's occupation of brewer. Subsequently he returned to Leiden, where he opened a tavern in 1672. Steen was a prolific painter, particularly of lively tavern scenes and of children, although he painted landscapes, portraits, and religious works as well. Among his best-known paintings are The Cat Family (1660, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest), Young Woman at Her Toilette (1663, Buckingham Palace, London), Wedding (1667, Wellington Museum, London), and The Surprise (1675, Metropolitan Museum, New York City).