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Jan Steen, 'A Pedlar selling Spectacles outside a Cottage', about 1650-3

About the work

Steen’s paintings of everyday life in seventeenth-century Holland are nearly always humorous in tone. This tiny picture, which is smaller than a sheet of A4 paper and was probably made when Steen was in his mid-twenties, is no different.

An old woman screws up her eyes as she tries to read a text with a pair of glasses offered to her by a pedlar. The man in blue is clearly amused by her struggles and, catching our eye, invites us to laugh with him. The three figures on the right also form a vignette illustrating the three ages of man: the curiosity of the young girl, the confidence of the man at the peak of life and the declining powers of the old woman.

This painting seems originally have been part of a pair which illustrated interactions between travellers and villagers. At the end of the eighteenth century it was sold with a companion piece (since lost) which showed a fortune teller.

Key facts

Full title
A Pedlar selling Spectacles outside a Cottage
Artist
Jan Steen
Artist dates
1626 - 1679
Date made
about 1650-3
Medium and support
oil on wood
Dimensions
24.6 × 20.3 cm
Inscription summary
Signed
Acquisition credit
Salting Bequest, 1910
Inventory number
NG2556
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection
Previous owners

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.

More works by Jan Steen

(Showing 6 of 10 works)
A Man blowing Smoke at a Drunken Woman
A Man blowing Smoke at a Drunken Woman
Jan Steen
A young woman, her blouse and jacket falling open rather immodestly, has drifted to sleep in her chair. In one hand is an empty wine glass, in the other a clay pipe. One man blows a stream of smoke towards her ear while a second looks on laughing. This seems like a tavern scene, but in the backgr...
Room 17
A Peasant Family at Meal-time ('Grace before Meat')
A Peasant Family at Meal-time ('Grace before Meat')
Jan Steen
In a quiet, dark room, a little girl folds her hands to say grace. She looks straight ahead as she has been taught to do when at prayer by her mother – her gaze is fixed so that nothing can tempt her away from her devotions. Books of emblems and instruction from the church laid emphasis on the im...
Room 23
A Young Woman playing a Harpsichord to a Young Man
A Young Woman playing a Harpsichord to a Young Man
Jan Steen
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...
Room 16
An Interior with a Man offering an Oyster to a Woman
An Interior with a Man offering an Oyster to a Woman
Jan Steen
Centre stage, against a shadowy, mostly black-and-white background, the bright red jacket inevitably draws our eye to the young woman. She leans back – rather immodestly, a glass of wine held in her lap, knees apart, one foot up on a box – and smiles directly up at the man offering her an oyster....
Not on display
Peasants merry-making outside an Inn
Peasants merry-making outside an Inn
Jan Steen
This was probably made when Steen was still in his early twenties and is one of many small paintings that he produced around this time. The theme of peasants drinking and dancing was a common one in Steen’s work, as was the central joke of an older man propositioning a younger woman. At least two...
Not on display
Skittle Players outside an Inn
Skittle Players outside an Inn
Jan Steen
This sparkling little picture is unusual among Jan Steen’s paintings. We are outside an inn – The White Swan, to judge by its sign – rather than in its dark interior, Steen’s more typical setting.The energetic pose of the man bowling suggests that he’s serious about his game and that, given a mom...
Room 16
The Effects of Intemperance
The Effects of Intemperance
Jan Steen
Propriety, order and temperance were important virtues in Dutch Calvinist society in the seventeenth century. People admired hard work and disapproved of wantonness. But they also liked a good laugh and the way that Jan Steen could make moralising entertaining.Some of his jokes are immediately cl...
Room 17
The Interior of an Inn ('The Broken Eggs')
The Interior of an Inn ('The Broken Eggs')
Jan Steen
A young lad dips his finger into something delicious in the background of this raucous picture – probably something forbidden, since he hides what he’s doing. The actions and expressions of the men also imply the tasting of forbidden fruits denied them by the young woman. She shoves away the hand...
Not on display
Two Men and a Young Woman making Music on a Terrace
Two Men and a Young Woman making Music on a Terrace
Jan Steen
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...
Not on display
An Itinerant Musician saluting Two Women in a Kitchen
An Itinerant Musician saluting Two Women in a Kitchen
After Jan Steen
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...
Not on display
You've viewed 6 of 10 works