The inscription above the door is from Proverbs 20:1, which reads: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” In front of an inn, a hopelessly inebriated young woman is being helped into a wheelbarrow. Although the woman’s low-cut dress and red stockings mark
her as a prostitute, her rich and exquisitely delineated clothing indicate a more privileged status. Jan Steen subtly conveys the message that not only are those of superior position as susceptible as the lowly to the sins of drink, but that their disgrace is perhaps more pitiable because of the distance they have fallen.
Details
- Artist Name: Jan Steen (Dutch, c.1626-1679)
- Title: Wine is a Mocker
- Date: 1663-64
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 34-3/8 x 41-1/4 in. (87.3 x 104.8 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1969.05.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
Edward Solly (sale London, Foster & Sons, 31 May 1837, no. 68, sold 86.2 to);
Norbury[?].
Private collection, Twenthe, The Netherlands, 1938.
[Firma Daniël Katz, Dierden, by 25 June 1941, when it was seized during the German occupation of The Netherlands for Hitler’s Linz collection, recovered and returned 13 November 1947 to];
[Benjamin (b. 1891) and Nathan Katz (1893-ca. 1950, Paris].
Mad. K. L. et al sale, Paris, Charpentier, 30 Nov. 1954, lot 32;
K. L. Sander, Bloemendaal, 1957.
K. Gratma, Heemstede, 1961, (sale, Sotheby's, London, 30 June 1965, no. 100, bought in by “Patch” for 14,000), sold through;
[Galerie Cramer, The Hague, by 1968 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
Meesterwerken uit vier eeuwen, 1400-1800
- Rotterdam, Museum Boymans, 1938-06-15 to 1938-10-18
- van Westrheene, T., Jan Steen: études sur l'art en Hollande,no. 390
- Selections from the Norton Simon Museum, Inc. Museum of Art,no. 11 pp. 48-49
- Wurzbach, A., Niederländisches Künstler-Lexicon, p. 658
- Hofstede de Groot, C., A Catalogue Raisonné of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century,no. 103
- Westermann, Mariët, The Amusements of Jan Steen,fig. 60 pp. 122, 279, 281, 292
- Norton Simon Museum, Selected Paintings at the Norton Simon Museum,1980, p. 59
- Bredius, J., Jan Steen,pl. 67 p. 63
- Rousova, Andrea, Petr Brandl-painter of earthly vices. Genre paintings in his ouvre.,pp. 36-37 pp. 36-37
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum,1989, p. 59
- Hoet, Gérard, Catalogus of naamlyst van schilderyen,no. 12 p. 319
- Cramer Oude Kunst, Catalogue No. XV,no. 59
- Edwin Bujisen, Quentin Buvelot, Ariane van Suchtelen, Lea van ger Vinde, Milou Goverde, Genre Paintings in the Mauritshuis,2016, fig. 48d p. 270 ; p. 271 (ill.)
- Braun, Karel, Alle tot nu toe bekende schilderijen van Jan Steen,no. 191 p. 112
- Meesterweken uit vier eeuwen, 1400-1800,no. 147, pl. 94 p. 36
- The Burlington Magazine,pl. XLII
- Ariane van Suchtelen et al, Jan Steen's Histories,2018, fig. 11 p. 62
- Chapman, H. Perry and Arthur K. Wheelock, et al., Jan Steen: Painter and Storyteller,no. 38 pp. 222-224
- Haarlemsche meesters uit de eeuw van Frans Hals,no. 125
- Steadman, David, Art Journal,fig. 7 pp. 34-40
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 569 p. 313
- Smith, John, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters,no. 37
- Martin, Wilhelm, Jan Steen, p. 73
- Rumsey, T., Men and Women in Revolution and War, 1600 - 1815, p. 325
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