Jan Steen's scene shows a morally questionable love game full of hidden symbols. Adultery, lust and vice are depicted critically but humorously. Behind the seemingly everyday depiction lies a multi-layered moral commentary.
Lust and warning
The setting is the interior of a Dutch burgher house in the so-called 'Golden Age'. In accordance with the precepts of the period, orderly relations were required to prevail here, especially from a moral point of view. But the young couple who dominates the scene as if on a theatre stage is far removed from the latter. The woman points to the parrot cage, a symbol of captivity in her marriage to an elderly man sitting away from her in the garden; he is reading a letter. The suitor, on the other hand, sees himself on the cusp of achieving his goal, as the cracked nut suggests.
Warnings of leading an immoral life are part of essential statements that profoundly shape 17th-century Dutch painting. Themes and motifs that stem from the sacred painting tradition now live on in worldly garb, like the fate of the prodigal son, who all but plunges into ruin through his licentiousness and waste. A pivotal theme is lust, which is always associated with immoderation. It is known in Latin as luxuria, one of the “seven deadly sins”. The moral authorities of the time rail against it, in addition to excessive smoking and drinking, as testified in contemporaneous prints and paintings.
These reminders are conveyed with the aid of a hidden code: The pewter tankard held by the man is an unmistakable reference to male lewdness, while the parrot cage, the bed, the coal brazier with the clay pipe or the broken glass point to signs of negligent housekeeping and a licentious lifestyle.
They became proverbial for Jan Steen’s paintings, unlike any other artist. Born in Leiden, the painter also ran a tavern in addition to painting pictures. Consequently, he may well have been more than well acquainted with the loose morals of the time.
Text: Ulrich Becker