Interior with Women Thrashing a
Man (“Peasants Fighting”)

ca. 1670–73

Jan Steen(Leiden 1626 –1679 Leiden)

37.8 x 30.5 cm

oil on canvas
signed in dark paint, lower right corner:“JSteen.” (JS in ligature)
JS-103© 2017 The Leiden Collection

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How To Cite
Kloek, Wouter. "Interior with Women Thrashing a Man (“Peasants Fighting”)." In The Leiden Collection
Catalogue. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017.
https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/.
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Near a fireplace in a simple interior, three women flog a man who lies

Comparative Figures

helpless before their onslaught. One of them has grabbed hold of his shirt
and is about to whack him with a short broom while another womanlaughingly pulls on his pants. A third woman tugs at his trousers, possibly
in search of his purse, which, in fact, lies between his legs, with a key
attached to its a clasp. The man’s only weapon in this struggle is a wooden
spoon that he holds loosely and ineffectively in his right hand. With hisother hand he grabs the white headscarf worn by the woman with thebroom, but his efforts at defending himself are meager at best. As he lieson the floor, he gapes upward, his cap having fallen from his head,revealing his closely cropped red hair. Behind this tussling group a childFig 1. Salomon Saverij after
Joost Goeimaere, Man Being
Thrashed by Three Women,
1610, etching, 15.7 x 21.1 cm,
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv.
RP-P-1882-A-6207

reaches for the bread oven to the right of the fireplace, while on a raised
landing accessible by ladder, a seated woman observes the scene andlaughs behind her hands.
Mockery of the man who cannot live up to his role as the woman’s better
half was the theme of numerous representations throughout the ages.[1] A
brawl in which women beat up a man is an indication of an “upside-downworld,” where the traditional roles of men and women have been reversed,a theme that Jan Steen often painted. A wooden spoon and a bunch ofkeys, for example, are objects typically carried by a housewife. Steen’s
painting also is related to another popular subject, the so-called “Strugglefor the Breeches.” A composition in a somewhat similar vein is Salomon
Saverij’s 1610 etching after a print by Joos Goeimare (1578–1611) (fig1).[2] In that print, three women thrash a drunken man’s bare buttocks
because he let his family suffer deprivation. In Steen’s painting, the childgesturing toward the bread oven probably also connotes that the family
suffers from lack of food. The women, fed up with the man’s failure to rule
the roost, have decided to punish him.
In the foreground Steen skillfully rendered a number of objects, including akettle, bucket, knives, matchsticks, hatchet, a caged basket holding achicken or a rooster and, most notably, a pair of scales. Even though these
items presumably relate to the pictorial narrative, their meanings in thiscontext are not entirely clear. However, the scales probably relate to theDutch expression that things are “out of balance.” The chicken basket in
the right foreground seemingly indicates that the man is a “hen-groper,” abungling idiot who meddles in household affairs but is not worth a straw. It
might also be a reference to the well-known metaphor of the hen who© 2017 The Leiden Collection

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crows rather than the rooster.[3]The painting’s allusion to a topsy-turvy world recalls the work of Pieter
Bruegel the Elder (1525–69) and Pieter Aertsen (1508–75), artists who
were certainly important to Steen. The power of women over men plays arole in many of Steen’s paintings. However, among his scenes of brawlingpeasants, this painting is an exception, since it does not portray the usual
tussling card players or boozers.[4] The only direct connection that can bediscerned between this painting and another of Steen’s works is a painting
dated either 1671 or 1674 (present whereabouts unknown), in which awoman seen from the back lifts her arms upwards in a way comparable tothe child (but in reverse).[5]Dendrochronological examination has shown that this painting is likely to
be one of Steen’s late works: the panel would not have been ready for use
until after 1668.[6] A dating to around 1670–73 is most plausible. Cornelis
Hofstede de Groot believed that the painting was in poor condition(“Genuine, but has suffered severely”).[7] That assessment, however, was
not confirmed during restoration, at which time damage was observed only
near one of the ladders.[8] It is also possible that Hofstede de Groot’s
negative opinion was prompted by the signature, in which part of an
original E had disappeared, causing it to look like “JStien.” His opinion
might also have been influenced by the slightly flat character of theexecution, which lacks Steen’s customary brilliance. This uniformity ofbrushwork can perhaps be explained by the involvement of a studioassistant, as is often the case in Steen’s late work. The composition,
however, is intelligent and original, entirely in keeping with the master’smanner of painting. A few pentimenti discernible in the wooden spoon, thesleeve of the kneeling woman, and possibly the broom demonstrate
Steen’s searching efforts to create a pleasing and compelling conception.
-Wouter Kloek© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Interior with Women Thrashing a Man (“Peasants Fighting”)
Page 5 of 7Endnotes
1. On this subject, see, among others, M. L. Moffitt Peacock, Harpies and Henpecked
Husbands: Images of the Powerful Housewife in Netherlandish Art, 1550–1700 (Ann Arbor,1989).
2. The etching is discussed at length in Eddy de Jongh and Ger Luijten,Spiegel van alledag:
Nederlandse genreprenten 1550–1700 (Amsterdam, 1997), 137–40, no. 23 (English edition:Mirror of Everyday Life: Genreprints in the Netherlands 1550–1700 [Amsterdam, 1997]).
3. A similar text, accompanying a print by Hans Liefrinck, is quoted in M. L. Moffitt Peacock,Harpies and Henpecked Husbands: Images of the Powerful Housewife in Netherlandish
Art, 1550–1700 (Ann Arbor, 1989), 125.
4. Examples include various representations of brawling card players: that of 1664 in Munich(Braun 1980, no. 205); of 1671, Rijksdienst Cultureel Erfgoed (Netherlands Cultural HeritageAgency), on loan to the Gemeentemuseum Arnhem (Braun 1980, no. 344); and of a subject
such as “Wijn is een spotter” (Wine is a mocker) in Detroit. See Karel Braun, Alleschilderijen van Jan Steen (Rotterdam, 1980), no. 233
5. Karel Braun, Alle schilderijen van Jan Steen (Rotterdam, 1980), no. 344.
6. Report written by Peter Klein in 2011 indicates that the earliest felling date is after 1662.
7. Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch
Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith, 8 vols. (London,1907–27), 5:38–39, no. 95, translated from Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis derWerke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts . 10 vols.
(Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28), 1: 211–12, no. 783.
8. Restoration report, Annette Rupprecht, May 2012. This damage is barely noticeable in thepainting’s present condition.

Provenance
Stork Collection (his sale, Roos, Amsterdam, 14 May 1839, no. 94 [for 56 florins to Woodin]).
Baron van den Bogaerde, Châteaux of Heeswijk (his sale, ‘S Hertogenbosch, 19 June 1900,no. 162; Amsterdam, 28 September 1902, no. 52).
[Salomon Lilian B. V., Amsterdam, by 2004].
From whom acquired by the present owner.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection

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References
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent
Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith . 8 vols.
London, 1907–27, 5:38–39, no. 95. Translated from Beschreibendes und kritisches
Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts .
10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28, 1:211–12, no. 783.
Braun, K. Alle schilderijen van Jan Steen. Rotterdam, 1980, 158, no. A-617.
Surh, Dominique. “Peasants Fighting.” In Old Masters. Sales cat. Salomon Lilian B. V.,
Amsterdam, 2005, 42–43, no. 13.

Technical Summary
The support, a single plank of horizontally grained but vertically oriented, rectangular western
German or Netherlandish oak with a fell date after 1662, has bevels on all four sides.[1] A
pronounced horizontal grain line creates an indentation across the width of the lower half of thecomposition.[2] The unthinned and uncradled panel has two chalk inscriptions but no wax seals,
import stamps, stencils, panel maker’s marks or machine tool marks along the reverse.
A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied and extends to the panel edges andspills over onto the left and right panel edges but not over the upper and lower edges. The oilpaint has been built up in successive layers and applied smoothly with no use of impasto,
although with slightly raised brushwork along the figures and wicker chicken basket on the right.
No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers.
Compositional changes visible in the images and as pentimenti include slight shifts to the objects
in the foreground, such as a shift to the right of the ladle held by the central figure.
The painting is signed in dark paint along the lower right corner, but is undated.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2004 and remains in an excellent state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on Peter Klein’s dendrochronology report. The
horizontal grain is oriented slightly diagonally. The bevel along right edge is extremely
shallow.
2. 14.5 cm up from lower edge along the left side, 13 cm up from lower edge along the rightside.
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© 2017 The Leiden Collection