JAN STEEN AND HIS GENRE SCENES

The Pancake Woman

JAN STEEN AND HIS GENRE SCENES

by Joan K. Yanni

Genre painting has been relegated to the lowest rung of painting subjects, following after religious paintings, mythological paintings, portraits, and landscapes. Yet it was arguably the most popular subject in Holland in the 17th century.

By the early part of the century, although The Netherlands had freed itself from oppressive Spanish rule, the southern part of the country remained Catholic while the northern provinces were Calvinistic. Holland became the foremost commercial and maritime power in the world, and Amsterdam was the financial center of Europe.

Art had changed. The Calvinists rejected religious images in their churches, so commissions for this art were non-existent. However, wealthy commercial families suddenly demanded art for their homes, and the demand for paintings grew. The desire for decorative art spread from the wealthiest patrons who wanted art in all the rooms of their large houses, to social classes who had never before been able to afford art. Butchers and bakers wanted pictures, too, to show either in their shops or in the outer rooms of their houses.

Dutch painters set out to supply the demand with skill and energy. Small pictures were desired, pictures that could be carried out of the artist’s studio and installed in living rooms, and the artists were willing to supply them. The Dutch wanted paintings of themselves and their surroundings, easily recognizable pictures of leisure-time activities painted in colors pleasing to the eye. The subjects in these paintings had to be enjoying themselves, or at least content with their lives, whether dressed in silks and satins in a manicured garden or in rough clothing in a tavern, as in MAG’s Tavern Scene.

Still lifes were popular if they showed the fruits of wealth-- wine, oysters, tobacco, exotic fabrics and silver tankards--as were landscapes, scenes of the unmistakable flat Dutch coastline or small towns and villages. And, in particular, patrons loved genre scenes--paintings of everyday life, sometimes with one or two subjects as in many of Vermeer’s paintings, or scenes crowded with gay and riotous figures as in many of Jan Steen’s works. Such scenes of domestic chaos, in fact, were called “Jan Steen households.”
                     
Steen, (1626-1679) was born in Leyden, the son of a brewer. He had the means to enter Leyden University where he studied for a short time before beginning his artistic training around 1647.  Various teachers have been suggested,  including Jan van Goyen, whose daughter he married; but an early painter of low-life genre scenes in Haarlem, Adriaen van Ostade, appears to have been most influential.                                                        

By 1654 Steen settled in Delft where he was brought into contact with local artists such as Pieter de Hooch and with painters from nearby Dordrecht such as Nicolaes Maes. These artists had been working with perspective, spatial effects, and clear, warm light, which Steen began to use in his own works. In 1661 Steen moved again, this time to Haarlem, where his subject matter became more diverse, possibly inspired by Dutch theatre. His later work is characterized by increasingly elegant interiors and dress, smooth, detailed handling of paint, and a wide range of colors.

Although Steen was one of the most versatile of painters, his strength lay in presenting humorous scenes from the life of the people, with a moralizing message hidden in the action.  Biblical or mythological subjects became scenes from contemporary life. If he could inject a touch of humor, he did. Although he painted no still-life works as such, in many of his works there are silver or glass containers, a pipe, musical instruments (the lute signified the pleasures of love or folly of earthly pleasures), and often a skull to indicate the fragility of life. These groupings compare favorably with the best examples of still-life painting.

Steen’s pictures of traditional rituals are unique in that they juxtapose the sacred with the profane. A virtuous bride at a wedding is surrounded by leering lowlife; a celebration in family home hints of a bordello nearby, all with comic overtones and moralizing that viewers of the day would appreciate. His comic gift, flair for composition, and skill as a draughtsman make his works unique.

MAG’s The Pancake Woman (55.71) pictures a colorfully dressed woman wearing a broad-brimmed straw hat, red jacket, white blouse and blue-gray apron over her taupe skirt. She is sitting under a tree and baking pancakes on a skillet set on a trivet above a crackling wood fire. Under the makeshift table is an earthenware batter jug with a spoon.

The woman is extending her hand to receive a coin from the blonde child standing beside her, while an old woman leans over the little girl, prompting her in the exchange. An old man, possibly the grandfather, stands behind them. At far right, a man in a tall cap exits the scene though a doorway in the fence. All four faces in the picture can be seen in other paintings by Steen, and it is assumed that the child is Steen’s daughter Eva.

The pancake baker was an image that delighted Dutch collectors and remained a popular theme among 17th-century Dutch artists. At the time pancakes could be purchased on the street from vendors with portable equipment. The pancakes were eaten out of hand as snacks or were served as a meal (but not for breakfast). Originally a delicacy prepared on Shrove Tuesday, the day before the beginning of Lent, pancakes were associated with feasting and wild behavior. Images of pancake makers were initially moralistic in nature, symbolizing gluttony and lust. By the 1600s pancakes were eaten every day, and the theme lost some of its allegorical significance. However, the scene retained its popularity among painters, printmakers and the public.