Fine Art Poster
From £37
A giclée print on 200gsm matte fine art paper, using a twelve-colour process for accurate, fade-resistant colour. Supplied unframed, delivered flat or rolled.
The Dissolute Household - Jan Steen
Regular price
£37.00 GBP
Sale price
£37.00 GBP
Regular price
Archival giclée
Frames arrive ready to hang
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Made to order
Description
A detailed genre painting by Jan Steen depicting a chaotic domestic scene filled with symbolic warnings against moral excess and sloth.
Jan Steen, a master of Dutch Golden Age genre painting, created this work to depict the consequences of moral laxity. The scene presents a domestic interior in a state of disarray, where the occupants have abandoned their responsibilities in favour of indulgence. A central couple sits at a table, surrounded by symbols of excess, including scattered playing cards, discarded oyster shells, and a dog scavenging near a platter of food. The woman, dressed in fine clothing, appears intoxicated, while her partner smokes a pipe with a relaxed posture.
Steen employs a narrative approach to his compositions, often using humour to convey a didactic message. In the background, a woman sleeps at the table, oblivious to the chaos, while a child plays with a string of beads nearby. A monkey, perched atop a cupboard, adds a layer of symbolic meaning, as the animal was frequently associated with folly and base instincts in seventeenth-century Dutch art. The lighting is focused on the central figures, drawing the eye to their expressions and the clutter that defines their environment.
This painting functions as a warning against the dangers of sloth and gluttony. Steen was known for his ability to balance technical precision with complex social commentary. The textures of the fabrics, the reflective surfaces of the metalware, and the subtle play of light across the room demonstrate his command of the medium. By documenting the disorder of the household, Steen invites the viewer to observe the breakdown of order and the loss of domestic virtue. The work remains a primary example of how artists of the period used everyday scenes to explore human fallibility and the social values of the Dutch Republic.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
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Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
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To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
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Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Complete The Look
The Dissolute Household - Jan Steen
Regular price
From £37.00 GBP
Sale price
From £37.00 GBP
Regular price
Fine Art Poster / Small Square (30x30 cm) / -
Artist Biography
Jan Steen
Steen ran a brewery and a tavern, painted roughly eight hundred pictures, fathered eight children and died in debt. The Dutch phrase "a Jan Steen household" still describes a home in cheerful disarray, which is exactly what his paintings depict: noisy domestic scenes of feasts, drinking parties, quack doctors and misbehaving children, painted with moral commentary buried under layers of visual comedy.
He was born in Leiden around 1626 into a well-to-do Catholic family of brewers who ran the tavern The Red Halbert. In 1648 he and Gabriel Metsu co-founded the painters' Guild of Saint Luke in Leiden. He studied under Jan van Goyen, the landscape painter, and married Van Goyen's daughter Margriet in 1649. His father leased him a brewery in Delft from 1654 to 1657; when the art market collapsed in the Year of Disaster (1672), he opened a tavern in Leiden.
His painting drew heavily on the Rhetoricians, the amateur theatrical guilds whose public performances combined moralising with bawdy comedy. Steen treated his own family as a cast: he used relatives as models and painted himself repeatedly with no trace of vanity, often as the fool or the drunk. The Feast of Saint Nicholas and Girl Eating Oysters are among his most recognisable images, each balancing precise observation of Dutch domestic life with a theatrical sense of timing.
Despite enormous productivity he struggled financially throughout his career. His second wife was left with heavy debts and a large family after his death in Leiden in 1679, at fifty-two. Collectors valued him from early on, but the prices came after his lifetime.
He was born in Leiden around 1626 into a well-to-do Catholic family of brewers who ran the tavern The Red Halbert. In 1648 he and Gabriel Metsu co-founded the painters' Guild of Saint Luke in Leiden. He studied under Jan van Goyen, the landscape painter, and married Van Goyen's daughter Margriet in 1649. His father leased him a brewery in Delft from 1654 to 1657; when the art market collapsed in the Year of Disaster (1672), he opened a tavern in Leiden.
His painting drew heavily on the Rhetoricians, the amateur theatrical guilds whose public performances combined moralising with bawdy comedy. Steen treated his own family as a cast: he used relatives as models and painted himself repeatedly with no trace of vanity, often as the fool or the drunk. The Feast of Saint Nicholas and Girl Eating Oysters are among his most recognisable images, each balancing precise observation of Dutch domestic life with a theatrical sense of timing.
Despite enormous productivity he struggled financially throughout his career. His second wife was left with heavy debts and a large family after his death in Leiden in 1679, at fifty-two. Collectors valued him from early on, but the prices came after his lifetime.
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Fine Art Framed
From £59
The same fine art print in a solid wood frame with UV-protective acrylic glaze and rigid backing. Five frame colours. Arrives ready to hang.
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