Jan Steen was a famous Dutch genre painter, born in the seventeenth century. In his paintings, he made his subjects mainly from his daily life. The scenes he painted were often lively and chaotic and the Dutch to this day often use the phrase “A Jan Steen household” meaning a chaotic and messy household. His paintings of household chaos were supposed to act as a warning to observers that life needed to be more organized and orderly. Today the Merry Family is a typical work of art that portrays a chaotic, messy scene along with subtle hidden meanings. Steen interprets the moral truths of Dutch genre painting as a humorist in which realistic actions and educational advice can confuse many people. Merry Family was created during the Dutch Golden
