Jan Steen, 'A Young Woman playing a Harpsichord to a Young Man', probably 1659

A Young Woman playing a Harpsichord to a Young Man

Jan Steen

Room 16

About the work

Overview

An elegantly dressed young woman plays a harpsichord for a man leaning on the instrument. Music is often related to love in Dutch paintings, but in contrast to other genre scenes of this kind the couple don‘t appear to be flirting. The young woman is concentrating on her sheet of music.

The Latin inscriptions placed on the instrument provide a witty and ironic commentary. The words ‘SOLI DEO GLORIA’ (’Glory to God alone‘) appear below the keys, implying that the young woman is playing solely for the glory of God. But the inscription on the open lid reads ‘ACTA VIRUM PROBANT’ (’actions prove the man'): the young woman’s admirer is about to take more active steps. Presumably he will soon join the woman in an intimate duet, accompanying her on the theorbo that the pageboy seen through the open door is carrying.

In-depth

In a dark interior framed by a stone arch, an elegantly dressed young woman plays a harpsichord for the man leaning on the instrument. Music is often related to love in Dutch paintings, but in contrast to other genre scenes of music making the couple don‘t appear to be flirting. The young woman is concentrating on her sheet of music, and the man only dares to glance coyly towards his companion.

The Latin inscriptions on the instrument provide a witty and ironic commentary and identify this as a scene of courtship. The words ‘SOLI DEO GLORIA’ (’Glory to God alone‘) appear below the keys, implying that the young woman is playing solely for the glory of God. Her lowered gaze and upright posture express dignity and emotional restraint. But the inscription on the open lid reads ‘ACTA VIRUM PROBANT’ (’actions prove the man‘): the young woman’s admirer, slouching over the instrument, is about to take more active steps. Through the open door in the right background we can see a pageboy approaching, carrying a theorbo (a large type of lute). The man will soon try to charm the woman by suggesting an intimate duet, which was at the time a common metaphor for two people joined in harmonious love.

The harpsichord was the largest stringed keyboard instrument in use from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, and the one depicted here was probably painted after an existing model. Common examples like this one were decorated with patterned paper with printed mottoes and biblical quotations. A similar design of seahorses and arabesque patterns above the keyboard can be found in Johannes Vermeer’s Lady at a Virginal (Royal Collection). The painted instruments were probably inspired by the ones built by the famous Ruckers workshop in Antwerp.

As well as demonstrating his wit here, Jan Steen has also proven his mastery in rendering different materials; the surfaces of the woven tapestry hanging in the background and the bright, shiny satin of the women’s skirt and bodice are especially noteworthy. By employing the device of the painted stone arch that frames the scene and focuses the viewer’s attention, we are made to feel as if we are spying on the couple.

Steen wrote his own name just above the keyboard of the harpsichord, typically where the instrument maker would have signed his work. The inscription also bears the date the painting was made. The last two numbers are no longer legible to the naked eye, but under the microscope the last number can be read as ’9'. Stylistic similarities with other paintings by Steen from around the same time seem to confirm that the work was painted in 1659, during the short period when the artist lived in Warmond, a village north of Leiden.

This was the first painting by Jan Steen to enter the National Gallery’s collection, when in 1871 it was bought with the rest of the collection of Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850), former prime minister and trustee of the Gallery.

Key facts

Details

Full title: A Young Woman playing a Harpsichord to a Young Man
Artist: Jan Steen
Artist dates: 1626 - 1679
Date made: probably 1659
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 42.3 × 33 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Dated and inscribed
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1871
Inventory number: NG856
Location: Room 16
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Bt
Frame: 17th-century Dutch Frame

Provenance

In an Anon. (‘collector from Friesland’) sale, Amsterdam, 29 September 1802 (lot 50), bought by J. Smit (676 guilders); in the collection of Anna Maria Ebeling (wife of Paul Iwan Hogguer) who died in 1812; A. M. Ebeling (Hogguer) sale, Amsterdam, 18 sqq. August 1817 (lot 79), bought by Nieuwenhuys (1,170 guilders); Le Rouge sale, Paris, 27 sqq. April 1818 (lot 55), bought by Delahante (7,740 francs). In the collection of (Sir) Robert Peel (Bart.) by 1823, when it was exhibited at the BI. Purchased with the Peel collection, 1871.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2013

Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love and Leisure

The National Gallery (London)

26 June 2013 - 8 September 2013
2017

Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting

Musée du Louvre

20 February 2017 - 22 May 2017

National Gallery of Ireland

17 June 2017 - 17 September 2017

National Gallery of Art (Washington DC)

22 October 2017 - 21 January 2018
2022

Keyboard Instruments

The Snijders & Rockox Huis

26 March 2022 - 26 June 2022

Bibliography

1830

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
1844

A.M. Jameson, Companion to the Most Celebrated Private Galleries of Art in London: Containing Accurate Catalogues, Arranged Alphabetically, for Immediate Reference, Each Preceded by an Historical & Critical Introduction […], London 1844
1907

C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
1960

Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
1976

C. Brown, Art in Seventeenth Century Holland (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 30 September - 12 December 1976), London 1976
1980

K. Braun, Alle tot nu toe bekend schilderijen van Jan Steen, Rotterdam 1980
1991

Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
1996

H.P. Chapman, W.T. Koek and A.K. Wheelock, Jan Steen: Painter and Storyteller, Amsterdam 1996
1997

C. Brown, 'H. Perry Chapman, Wouter Th. Kloek and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., exh cat. Jan Steen: Painter and Story-Teller', Simiolus, XXV/1, 1997, pp. 81-4
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

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This scene of two men and a woman making music is not a representation of everyday life. Positioned on a wide terrace overlooking an impressive formal garden, the figures don’t quite seem to belong in their surroundings. The men sit on either side of the singing woman, one holding a glass of wine...

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This grisaille work (painted in shades of black, white and grey) is a copy of a picture by Jan Steen known as ‘Old Wooer, Young Maid’. It’s a more appropriate title, emphasising that the man is probably making advances to the younger of the two women, who turns towards him.The flute protruding fr...

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