History Of Jan Steen

Exhibition"The History Of Jan Steen» focus on a little-known oeuvre of one of the leading artists of the Dutch Golden age – historical paintings. Until the mid XVIII century it was the most expensive of his works. But over time their value has decreased, apparently because of their humorous nature was out of fashion. The painter became better known as a master of genre scenes, where in an ironic light represented the vices of his contemporaries, as well as illustrated Proverbs and popular phrase.

Meanwhile, the Walls display the many stories from the Bible, apocryphal writings and classical mythology, which interpreted is very original – moving actors at the time. Today we know 75 of these works is approximately the sixth part of the artist. The exhibition will present twenty-one of them. This is a story about pain, betrayal and the temptations that Jan Steen tells in his own playful manner. As in genre compositions, he pays special attention to the interaction between the characters and teasing over their behavior.

One of the special exhibits of the upcoming exhibition will be the painting "the Mocking of Samson" from the collection of the Royal Museum of fine arts in Antwerp. The gallery, which was closed for repairs, sent the painting to the Hague. There in preparation for exposure, the restorers suspected that this is not a copy of the XVIII century, and an original work by the master himself. After some extensive research, they concluded that the painting style, technique and story are fully consistent with the work by Jan Steen.