Morning Toilet - Jan Steen
Archival giclée
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Description
A classic Dutch Golden Age genre painting by Jan Steen, depicting a woman dressing in a private, dimly lit interior.
Jan Steen, a master of Dutch Golden Age genre painting, created this work around 1663. The painting depicts a woman in a state of undress, seated on the edge of a bed while pulling on a red stocking. The scene is set within a dark, intimate interior, with a heavy curtain framing the bed and a small dog resting on the pillows. A chamber pot sits on the floor near a pair of discarded slippers, adding a sense of domestic realism to the composition.
Steen is known for his ability to capture everyday life with a blend of humour and moral commentary. In this piece, the artist employs a strong chiaroscuro effect, using light to draw attention to the woman and her immediate actions against the deep shadows of the room. The floor features a classic black and white chequered pattern, a common element in Dutch interior paintings of the period, which provides a sense of perspective and structure to the space.
The woman wears a white cap and a fur-trimmed jacket over a red skirt. Her posture is relaxed, suggesting a private moment before the start of the day. Steen avoids idealisation, choosing instead to present a candid view of domestic life. The inclusion of the dog and the scattered personal items creates a narrative quality, inviting the viewer to consider the context of the woman's morning routine. This work demonstrates Steen's technical skill in rendering textures, from the soft fur of the jacket to the smooth fabric of the stocking and the reflective surface of the ceramic pot. It remains a fine example of the Dutch tradition of depicting the interior lives of ordinary people with precision and narrative depth.
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Because every print is made to order, we don't offer change-of-mind returns, refunds or exchanges. If your order arrives faulty, damaged or incorrect, we'll replace it free of charge — just contact us within 48 hours of delivery. See our refunds page for full details.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
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Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
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- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
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Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Morning Toilet - Jan Steen
Artist Biography
Jan Steen
He was born in Leiden around 1626 into a well-to-do Catholic family of brewers who ran the tavern The Red Halbert. In 1648 he and Gabriel Metsu co-founded the painters' Guild of Saint Luke in Leiden. He studied under Jan van Goyen, the landscape painter, and married Van Goyen's daughter Margriet in 1649. His father leased him a brewery in Delft from 1654 to 1657; when the art market collapsed in the Year of Disaster (1672), he opened a tavern in Leiden.
His painting drew heavily on the Rhetoricians, the amateur theatrical guilds whose public performances combined moralising with bawdy comedy. Steen treated his own family as a cast: he used relatives as models and painted himself repeatedly with no trace of vanity, often as the fool or the drunk. The Feast of Saint Nicholas and Girl Eating Oysters are among his most recognisable images, each balancing precise observation of Dutch domestic life with a theatrical sense of timing.
Despite enormous productivity he struggled financially throughout his career. His second wife was left with heavy debts and a large family after his death in Leiden in 1679, at fifty-two. Collectors valued him from early on, but the prices came after his lifetime.
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