Collect24The Global Art Registry
Jan Steen, The Satyr and the Peasant Family
Formerly the property of the Philippson family of Brussels, looted by the Nazis, purchased by the Museum in 1969, and owned by the Museum pursuant to an agreement with the Philippson family in 2003 · Digital image courtesy of Getty's Open Content ProgramView original →
Jan Steen

The Satyr and the Peasant Family

about 1660–1662

Current Collection

J. Paul Getty Museum

Los Angeles, United States

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
52.1 × 47.6 cm
Status
In Museum Collection
Collect24 Art ID
C24-135328

A peasant family sits around a wooden table in a Dutch kitchen. The room's exposed rafters, assorted domestic objects on shelves, and cobbled floor are all rendered in careful detail. A woman serves a man who blows on his soup to cool it. A young child faces her, holding a spoon in his upraised hand and begging for food. A lively young woman wearing a large straw hat and an old woman fill the space between the eating man and the standing woman. A crude fellow in the background spoons soup into his grinning mouth. Next to the open door, a satyr leans on a staff and points an admonishing finger at the peasant family. The satyr has noticed that the peasant blows both on his hands to warm them and on his soup to cool it. He will turn to leave the house because he cannot trust someone who blows "both hot and cold with the same breath." The artist Jan Steen painted this subject, known originally from Aesop's *Fables*, many times. Throughout the 1600s, this moralistic tale was a popular subject for Dutch and Flemish painters.

Provenance

Formerly the property of the Philippson family of Brussels, looted by the Nazis, purchased by the Museum in 1969, and owned by the Museum pursuant to an agreement with the Philippson family in 2003

Registry history

  • about 1660–1662 — Recorded in the collection of J. Paul Getty Museum

Registered on Collect24

The identity of the collector is never published. Purchase information, documents and the exact location of the artwork remain private.

Ownership not yet verified on Collect24

This artwork is documented in the Global Art Registry, but no Collect24 account is linked to it as the owner. Claiming keeps this record and its Collect24 Art ID — nothing is created a second time.

Do you own or represent this artwork? Claim this artwork →

Auction history

Public sale records matched to this work. Ownership is never disclosed.

Loading sale records…