The Feast of St Nicholas — History & Facts
The feast of St Nicholas takes place in December. In the Netherlands, it has been celebrated in the same way for centuries. Good children receive gifts from the saint.
The little girl in the foreground, for instance, has a bucket full of treats. Naughty children, like the wailing boy at the left, get only a switch (a bundle of twigs) in their shoe. Jan Steen was a born storyteller.
He succeeded in incorporating all of the elements of the popular feast in this picture.
Sources: Rijksmuseum, record SK-A-385 · Wikidata Q764831 · Wikipedia: The Feast of Saint Nicholas
More Artworks by Jan Havicksz. Steen
Interior of an inn with an old man amusing himself with the landlady and two men playing backgammon, known as 'Two kinds of games'
Jan Havicksz. Steen
Baker’s Couple Arent Oostwaard and Catharina Keizerswaard
Jan Havicksz. Steen
Children Teaching a Cat to Dance, Known as The Dancing Lesson
Jan Havicksz. Steen
Self-portrait
Jan Havicksz. Steen
Adolf and Catharina Croeser, Known as ‘The Burgomaster of Delft and his Daughter’
Jan Havicksz. Steen
The Merry Family
Jan Havicksz. Steen
The Sick Woman
Jan Havicksz. Steen
Prince’s Day
Jan Havicksz. Steen
Woman at her Toilet
Jan Havicksz. Steen
More Genre Scene Art
Banquet of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard
Frans Hals
Rembrandt and Saskia in the Scene of the Prodigal Son
Rembrandt van Rijn
Bal du moulin de la Galette
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Quadrille at the Moulin Rouge
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
A Burial at Ornans
Gustave Courbet
When Will You Marry?
Paul Gauguin