The Merry Family

Jan Steen painted The Merry Family in 1668, during his time in Amsterdam. It is one of his most celebrated works and hangs in the Gallery of Honour at the Rijksmuseum. A family gathers around a table in a well-furnished room, celebrating. The father sits at the center, a pipe in one hand, a glass in the other, singing from a songbook. The mother sits beside him, playing a lute. Children around the table are smoking pipes, drinking wine, and joining in the song. An older woman sits at the right, reading. On the wall behind, a painting of a hermit hangs as a silent commentary on the worldly festivities below. The canvas is roughly 43 by 35 inches. The painting carries a moral message that would have been obvious to Steen's contemporaries. The Dutch proverb "As the old sing, so the young pipe" means that children learn by example. The parents are singing and drinking, and the children are doing the same. The painting is both a celebration of family life and a warning about the consequences of bad parenting. The hermit in the painting-within-the-painting represents the contemplative life, a contrast to the noisy gathering below. Steen was 42 when he painted this. He had been running a tavern in Amsterdam for several years and was producing the large, complex genre scenes that made him famous. The Merry Family is one of the most ambitious of these, with ten figures arranged in a complex composition that fills the canvas without feeling crowded. Each figure is engaged in a different activity, but all are connected by the shared moment of celebration. Oil on canvas, 110 by 141 centimeters. Steen used a warm, rich palette with strong reds and yellows. The brushwork is loose and confident, especially in the clothing and the food on the table. The faces are more carefully modeled, each one a distinct character. This painting works well in a dining room, living room, or family room. The 18x24 framed version in a red oak frame complements the warm, festive palette. The painting is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. This is a public domain artwork, sourced from Wikimedia Commons. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 24x36 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.