Portrait of Jacoba Maria van Wassenaer 1660

Editor: Here we have Jan Steen’s “Portrait of Jacoba Maria van Wassenaer” from 1660, done with oil paints. It’s a surprisingly busy scene. There are so many animals, and the young girl in the middle seems almost incidental. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Indeed. Though seemingly a portrait, it presents Jacoba within a highly constructed social landscape. Notice how the architecture frames a distant estate – likely symbolic of the family's status and land ownership. What does it say about how the landed gentry understood their relationship to the natural world, or, more specifically, the animal world in this context? Editor: That’s interesting. So, the animals aren't just decorative; they reflect something about her family’s position? Curator: Precisely. Consider how genre painting often encoded societal expectations. Jacoba's presence, amidst this controlled menagerie, subtly reinforces a patriarchal power structure. Is the family subtly presenting itself as stewards, as part of an idealized order that legitimizes their privileged status, not just their class but their place in the world? The inclusion of livestock acts as another symbol of power. Editor: So it's a statement about control, both of nature and, perhaps, of Jacoba herself as part of that controlled environment. I see it now! It feels like a visual statement on the politics of the time. Curator: Absolutely. Jan Steen masterfully weaves together portraiture, genre scenes, and even a landscape background to present a complex statement on class, gender, and power within Dutch society. What would that tell us about the lives of women outside of the elite? Editor: I'll definitely be thinking about that for a while! I didn't initially see all that, it has changed how I see other paintings of the era too.