Identifier: artofdresdengall00addi (find matches)
Title: The art of the Dresden gallery; notes and observations upon the old and modern masters and paintings in the royal collection
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors: Addison, Julia de Wolf Gibbs, 1866-
Subjects: Gemäldegalerie (Dresden, Germany) Painting -- History Painting -- Germany History
Publisher: Boston : L.C. Page & Company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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in all sorts of subjects, from the tavernbrawl to the drawing-room, and from the evil pas-sions of men to the joyous gaiety of little childrenat play. While he was young, he was in the studio of VanGoyen, whose daughter he married. Van Ostadealso married a daughter of Van Goyen, so that thesetwo painters came into brotherly relations, and wereprobably congenial. Steen was a Roman Catholic,but there is no evidence that he was a devout one.His religious pictures are singularly feeble. One of the few dates by which we can judge ofSteens whereabouts is that of 1661, when he wasthirty-five years old, and was living in Haarlemwith his wife and children. In 1670 an apothecarymade a raid on several of his pictures in paymentof a bill for drugs supplied during his wifes lastillness, she having died in 1669. He married againin three or four years. It has been said that Steen was on friendly termswith the devil even while painting his cloven foot!Probably much of his reputation as a drunkard is
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JAN STKFN. THE MAKRIACI KIASl AT l-ANA Dutcb painters 347 based on the simple historic fact that, being hardup, and having a house left to him as a legacy, hedecided to use this property by opening a tavern;after all, a very thrifty way of turning over hisinvestment, for art was not a high-paid commodityin those days. Naturally, as a proprietor of a publichouse, Jan Steen was frequently seen there, and un-doubtedly made himself .as popular as possible withthe guests : hence all the reports of undue convivial-ity. It is not likely, however, that the man to whomthe tavern meant bread and butter allowed himselfto become a sot. Also, the internal evidence of hisfive hundred carefully finished and well-conceivedpictures goes to prove that his head must have beensteady most of the time. Unfortunately we have in Dresden no specimenof his really characteristic work. The two chiefpictures are religious in name, — certainly in noth-ing else! and this was the branch in which he wasleast at eas

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