Best known for his humorous and witty genre paintings, Jan Steen was a legacy amongst the Dutch artists of the 17th century. Ranking next to names like Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Hals in popularity, Steen’s warm-hearted and animated scenes of domestic life as well as his mythological and religious works gained him widespread attention in Holland. Each of Steen’s paintings—which were often filled with moralizing messages beneath their witty compositions—demonstrated his remarkable skills and versatility as an artist, as well as his free spirit and ability to treat life as a vast comedy of manners.