The Drunken Couple

Jan Steen's Drunken Couple from around 1660, in the Rijksmuseum, depicts a man and woman in a state of bibulous revelry, an exemplary "Jan Steen household"—a phrase that entered the Dutch language to describe a scene of domestic disorder. Steen's comic genre scenes were immensely popular with Dutch collectors and later with French and English connoisseurs. His intimate knowledge of tavern life—he operated several during his career—lends his drinking scenes a convincing authenticity.

The compact composition focuses on the couple's bleary expressions and unsteady postures with observational precision. Steen's technique balances the freely painted figures with carefully rendered still-life elements—the wine jug, pipe, and crumpled tablecloth—that anchor the scene in material reality.