The Lovesick Maiden

Jan Steen's Lovesick Maiden from around 1660 depicts a young woman suffering from unrequited love — a subject that combined the comic observation of human weakness with medical theory about lovesickness as a genuine physical ailment. The doctor visiting a lovesick patient was one of Steen's most popular subjects, combining his interest in medical pretension (the doctor examining the patient's urine, prescribing remedies for what is clearly a matter of the heart) with the comedy of the young woman's transparently non-medical condition. Steen's treatment is typically warm and humorous rather than harsh, the girl's condition observed with amused sympathy rather than moral judgment.

Steen's oil on canvas demonstrates his skill in theatrical figure arrangement with warm interior lighting, expressive gestures, and the carefully placed symbolic objects that enrich his narrative compositions.