The Fat Kitchen
The Fat Kitchen is an exaggerated tale of how having plenty of food can make us happy, but perhaps with an underlying message of how the consequences of eating too much can also lead to illness. Note also the plump children trying to feed the uninterested fat cat while the adults are busy carousing.
Steen, Jan, 1625/1626-1679; The Fat Kitchen
The Fat Kitchen by Jan Steen, about 1650-1655. Oil on panel.
The Lean Kitchen
Jan Steen is considered a great master of recording low life genre painting, combining a moral message with entertainment. The palette and brush to the left on the wall in The Lean Kitchen suggests that this image represents an artist’s home. Is it a reflection on Jan Steen’s own struggle to make ends meet as an inn-keeper and artist? Both paintings are caricatures; The Lean Kitchen shows the misery of not having enough to eat, there is a general air of unhappiness, with children fighting over food and the scavenging dog. They are eating shellfish – today a bit of a luxury, but very much a poor person’s food in the 17th century.
Steen, Jan, 1625/1626-1679; The Lean Kitchen
The Lean Kitchen by Jan Steen, about 1650-1655. Oil on panel.
Share this article
Follow us
A quick overview of the topics covered in this article.
