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A Peasant Family at Meal-time ('Grace before Meat')

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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In a quiet, dark room, a little girl folds her hands to say grace. She looks straight ahead as she has been taught to do when at prayer by her mother – her gaze is fixed so that nothing can tempt her away from her devotions. Books of emblems and instruction from the church laid emphasis on the importance of the family in the teaching of morals and guiding the spirit of the child to the right path. For a girl, this meant marriage, motherhood and the family.

Jan Steen’s paintings epitomise the two sides of Dutch ideas of behaviour in the mid-seventeenth century. Many of his paintings take us into a colourful, funny, bawdy world, apparently to make an example of bad behaviour but also to make us laugh. He also shows us the gentle, inspiring life led by the good and faithful family, bringing up their children well in adversity.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

A Peasant Family at Meal-time ('Grace before Meat')

Date

about 1665

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 44.8 x W 37.5 cm

Accession number

NG2558

Acquisition method

Salting Bequest, 1910

Work type

Painting

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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