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Jan Steen

Rhetoricians at a Window, 1658–65, by Jan Steen

(Dutch (active Leiden, Haarlem, and The Hague), 1626–1679)

Filled with lively characters, Jan Steen’s paintings depicted humorous scenes of everyday Dutch life in the 1600s, often including details and subtle innuendos that conveyed moral messages. In the Netherlands, his works gave rise to the popular expression “a Jan Steen household” used to describe a bustling, untidy home. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has one of the most significant collections of Steen’s work outside the Netherlands.