Jan Havicksz. Steen

D. Teixeira, Den Haag;
Anonymous sale, de Vries, Brondgeest, Roos, Den Haag, July 23, 1832, lot 71, for 1,455 florins to Engelberts;
Thomas Hamlet;
Anonymous sale, London, July 29, 1833, lot 73, for 105 guineas;
King Leopold I of Belgium;
Thence by descent to King Leopold II of Belgium;
Veuve Franzisca van Clavé Bouhabern;
Anonymous sale, Heberlé, Cologne, June 4, 1894, lot 304, for 1900 marks to Lempertz;
M.F. Kleinberger, Paris, 1909;
With Goudstikker, Amsterdam, 1919;
August Janssen, Brussels;
P.W. Janssen, Amsterdam;
Anonymous sale, Frederich Muller and Co., November 29-30, 1932, lot 306;
Johanna Cohen, Amsterdam and New York;
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, January 13, 1978, lot 94, for $ 60,000;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Christie's, May 21, 1985, lot 164, for 296,400 guilders to Johnny van Haeften;
With Johnny van Haeften, London, 1985;
Anonymous sale ("Property from an American Private Collection"), New York, Sotheby's, January 12, 1995, lot 85;
Private collection, United States;
With David Koetser Gallery, Zurich;
From whom purchased by the present collector.

Den Haag, Pulchri Studio, Collection Goudstikker, November 1919, no. 121;
Amsterdam, Maatschappij voor Beeldende Kunsten, Collection Goudstikker, December 14, 1919, no. 55;
Oslo; Copenhagen; Stockholm, Kungliga Akademien för de Fria Konsterna, Konstforening, 1920, no. 55;
New York, Anderson Galleries, Exhibition of the Collection Goudstikker, March 10 - April 7, 1923, no. 110;
Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, Dreihundertjahrfeier Jan Steen, June 16 - August 31, 1926, no. 45.

J. Smith, Supplement to The Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, London 1842, p. 492, cat. no. 50;
T. van Westrheene Wzn., Jan Steen, Étude sur l'Art en Hollande, 1856, no. 191(224);
U. Thieme & F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexicon der Bildenden Kunstler, 1907, vol. XXXI, p. 512;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, London 1908, p. 131, cat. no. 490 (where noted as signed and dated 1671);
W. Roberts, "King of the Belgians' Collections of Old Masters", The Connoisseur, August 1909, vol. XXIV, p. 208, reproduced p. 204;
H. Havard, "Jan Steen", L'Art et les Artistes, June 1910, vol. XI, p. 106, reproduced;
O. Hirschmann, "Die Sammlung August Janssen", Der Cicerone, vol. 12, 1920, pp. 69-70, plate 70;
C. Veth, "Pieter Brueghel en Jan Steen", Maandblad voor Beeldende Kunsten, 8, 1931, no. 11, p. 323 sq., reproduced;
K. Braun, Meesters der Schilderkunst, Jan Steen, Rotterdam 1980, p. 137, cat. no. 343, reproduced.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting seems to be in very good state. The canvas has an old glue lining which nicely supports the surface. The paint layer is quite dirty and may have been selectively cleaned, for instance more in the figures than in the rug overhang. Under ultraviolet light, very few restorations are visible. There is a diagonal line in the lower left corner and a very few isolated spots. While it is possible that if the picture were to be cleaned, further restorations would become apparent, they are not expected to be that numerous, and for the most part the condition is very good. There are some possible areas of thinness and subsequent restoration in the window behind the figure group, perhaps in the shadowed areas, in the white bonnet in the mother of the lower right, and in the grey wall beyond, all of which is to be expected. The picture does not necessarily need to be cleaned but the varnish is dull in places and could be freshened.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The richly embroidered carpet hanging from the top of this painting gives the sense of a theatre curtain lifted onto a stage set. The viewer here witnesses a village wedding, a subject which Steen depicted on various occasions and which gave him the opportunity to humorously depict contemporary popular culture. These scenes of drunken frivolity and dancing show the influence both of the peasant imagery of Flemish artists such as Pieter Brueghel the Elder (circa 1525-1569) and David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690), and also the influence of the artistic traditions of Haarlem, where Steen resided from 1661 to 1670. The seated couple in the foreground are clearly influenced by the genre scenes of the Haarlem painter Adrian van Ostade (1610-1685). The popularity of tavern scenes and drinking themes was perhaps natural in Haarlem, as it was a great brewing centre at the time, and, more specifically, Steen had a personal connection with this industry as the son of a brewer.

The artist successfully conveys in this painting the lively celebratory spirit of the occasion but simultaneously warns of the folly and consequences of intemperance and hedonism. Steen's moralizing intent is conveyed by the man who has fallen drunkenly off his chair in the foreground being mocked by a young boy and the dog stealing a piece of meat from the silver tazza, demonstrating the negligence of the revellers. A man outside the doorway on the left crosses his fingers behind his back, presumably hoping that his amorous advances will be welcomed, and even the figure in clerical dress to the right of the bride is engrossed in his roemer of wine. Steen's condemnation of drunkenness reflects the attitude of contemporary society and literature. H. Perry Chapman notes in particular the popularity of Jacobus Scecperus' The Drunkard of Past and Present Times, published in 1665, which warned that drink "leads to whoring, adultery, lewdness and dishonour."¹ The artist also uses several vanitas motifs to suggest the transitory nature of these self-indulgent pleasures, such as the broken pitcher to the left of the foreground, the boy's broken drumstick and the extinguished candles on the column and the left wall. Steen has masterfully rendered these and other still-life elements in the scene, such as the kitchen utensils on the shelf along the left edge, with great detail and a delicate use of light and shade.

In discussing this Village Wedding, Hofstede de Groot described this painting as signed and dated 1671 and it is most probably this source that persuaded Karel Braun to also suggest a date of execution of 1671. As is sometimes the case with Steen's paintings, Hoftstede de Groot's dating may be due to a misreading of the letters "teen" following the JS monogram as the date 1671. It is difficult to ascertain whether this work dates from the late 1660s or whether it was produced after Steen's return to Leiden in 1670. The loose handling and brown tonality, as well as the subject matter and composition, are consistent with paintings produced by the artist in both centres. Although the compositional device of the raised curtain was used by Steen in his Life of Man, dated circa 1665, in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, other elements, such as the similarity between the bride in the present painting and Peasant Wedding dated 1672 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, suggest a later dating.²

 

1.  H.P. Chapman, W. Kloek and A.K. Wheelock, Jan Steen: Painter and Storyteller, exh. cat., New Haven 1996, p. 224.
2.  K. Braun, Meesters der Schilderkunst: Jan Steen, Rotterdam 1980, p. 122, cat. no. 261, reproduced p. 123, & p. 138, cat. no. 349, reproduced in colour p. 74.