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GRACE BEFORE MEAT
By JAN STEEN (l626?-1679)
IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON
The love of art among the English has found striking expression from time to time in a rescue from oblivion of the fame of some great artist whose masterpieces had long been unrecognised. Foreign observers have paid tribute to the discernment of English buyers who bought Steen's pictures in such numbers that the greater part of them (at least two-thirds) found their way to this country. To some extent this is accounted for by his boisterous humour, which found an echoing response in the English temperament. Sir Joshua Reynolds was so captivated with his work that he declared that "Steen's style might become even the design of a Rafaelle," while C. R. Leslie, R.A., described him as " the greatest genius of the Dutch painters of familiar life." Though at times he falls short of his highest standard, in his best work he excels the whole Dutch School in his originality, while he yields place to none in his technical mastery and his colouring.
Much of Steen's life is wrapped in obscurity, but it seems certain that after living in Leyden, his birthplace, from 1648 to 1658, he proceeded to Delft, where he set up a brewery. The venture was not successful. and he went on to Haarlem, where he joined the Painters' Guild, in 1661. Like some of our English painters he combined a genius for painting with jovial habits which were not marked by moderation. In spite of this he produced a large number of pictures, showing incidents of the everyday life with which he was acquainted. His general note is one of humour, and it is but rarely that he discards it for the quiet harmony of domestic scenes which gives an added interest to such pictures as " Grace Before Meat".
From the book "Famous Paintings" Volume 2 printed in 1913.
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Online "Name the Painting"
Jan Steen Paintings
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Steen Paintings
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