(b. 1626, Leiden, d. 1679, Leiden)

Celebrating the Birth 1664 Oil on canvas, 89 x 109 cm Wallace Collection, London

In 17th-century Dutch culture, a woman's main charge was to give birth to and raise children. Most parents greeted the birth of a child with happiness and pride, for emotional, and, particularly in the case of sons, economic reasons. A son frequently took over a father's business or trade and would inherit the family's possessions and perpetuate its name. The economic and social benefits of mariage made monogamy imperative. Cuckoldry and illegitimate children caused shame - or mirth, if they befell others.

This painting by Steen of revelers in a lying-in room suggests elation by its busy conversation, laughter, and drinking, as well as its bright colour scheme. Most of the visitors are women: men, including the father, were considered out of place at these events, useful only for money to sustain the celebration. The aging father in Steen's painting awkwardly holds the children as he reaches into his purse for more funds. He has good reason to be uncomfortable, as a younger man mocks him with two fingers behind his head, marking him a cuckold who may not know that his child is not his. The joke is in keeping with comic accounts of birth celebrations as gathering of crones and maidens gossiping about sex. Midwives and nurses were considered primary perpetrators of such transgressive talk. Their unclear status, always moving between households, made them mythic purveyors of bawdy chatters. As elsewhere, loquaciousness was generally found more appropriate for men than for women.

Although Steen's interior is up-to-date for a middle-class family of the 1660s, his nursery celebration seems old-fashioned for that period, exaggerated to comic effect.

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Author: STEEN, Jan Title: Celebrating the Birth Time-line: 1651-1700 School: Dutch Form: painting