Feast of the Chamber of Rhetoricians near a Town Gate 

Jan Steen painted this oil on canvas, Feast of the Chamber of Rhetoricians near a Town Gate, in the Dutch Republic during the mid-17th century. It depicts a boisterous gathering of members from a local Rhetoricians' Society. The painting serves as a snapshot of Dutch Golden Age sociability, but it also winks at the structures of civic life. Rhetoricians' Societies were literary and dramatic associations common in the Low Countries. Though ostensibly focused on the arts, these societies often functioned as spaces for social critique and political commentary. Steen’s image seems to both celebrate and gently mock the revelry of such groups. The scene overflows with symbolic details: from the discarded objects in the foreground suggesting the abandonment of social etiquette, to the banner overhead proclaiming that ‘where there is much, much is forgiven.’ By considering such visual clues, and by researching the history of these Societies, we begin to understand the painting as a commentary on the social norms of its time. The painting offers a window into the complex interplay between artistic expression and social critique in the Dutch Republic.