Interior with Women Thrashing a Man(“Peasants Fighting”)
Jan Steen(Leiden 1626 – 1679 Leiden)

ca. 1670–73
oil on canvas
37.8 x 30.5 cm
signed in dark paint, lower right corner:“JSteen.” (JS in ligature)
JS-103© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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How to cite
Kloek, Wouter. “Interior with Women Thrashing a Man (“Peasants Fighting”)” (2017). In The Leiden Collection
Catalogue,

2nded.

EditedbyArthurK.

WheelockJr.

NewYork,

2017–20.

https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/interior-with-women-thrashing-a-man/ (archived May 2020).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative
occurs.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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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 woman
laughingly pulls on his pants. A third woman tugs at his trousers, possibly insearch 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 spoonthat he holds loosely and ineffectively in his right hand. With his other hand
he grabs the white headscarf worn by the woman with the broom, but hisefforts at defending himself are meager at best. As he lies on the floor, hegapes upward, his cap having fallen from his head, revealing his closely
cropped red hair. Behind this tussling group a child reaches for the breadFig 1. Salomon Saverij after JoostGoeimaere, Man Being Thrashedby Three Women, 1610, etching,
15.7 x 21.1 cm, Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam, inv. RPP-1882-A-6207

oven to the right of the fireplace, while on a raised landing accessible byladder, a seated woman observes the scene and laughs 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, atheme that Jan Steen often painted. A wooden spoon and a bunch of keys,
for example, are objects typically carried by a housewife. Steen’s painting
also is related to another popular subject, the so-called “Struggle for theBreeches.” A composition in a somewhat similar vein is Salomon Saverij’s
1610 etching after a print by Joos Goeimare (1578–1611) (fig 1).[2] In thatprint, three women thrash a drunken man’s bare buttocks because he let hisfamily suffer deprivation. In Steen’s painting, the child gesturing toward thebread 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 topunish 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 theseitems 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 theright 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 crows
rather than the rooster.[3]© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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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 werecertainly important to Steen. The power of women over men plays a role inmany 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 notconfirmed 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 havebeen influenced by the slightly flat character of the execution, which lacks
Steen’s customary brilliance. This uniformity of brushwork can perhaps beexplained by the involvement of a studio assistant, as is often the case in
Steen’s late work. The composition, however, is intelligent and original,
entirely in keeping with the master’s manner of painting. A few pentimenti
discernible in the wooden spoon, the sleeve of the kneeling woman, andpossibly the broom demonstrate Steen’s searching efforts to create apleasing and compelling conception.

- Wouter Kloek, 2017

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Endnotes

1. On this subject, see, among others, Martha Lynn 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, Mirror of Everyday Life:
Genre Prints in the Netherlands, 1550–1700, trans. Michael Hoyle (Exh. cat. Amsterdam,Rijksmuseum) (Ghent, 1997), 137–40, no. 23.
3. A similar text, accompanying a print by Hans Liefrinck, is quoted in Martha Lynn Moffitt
Peacock, Harpies and Henpecked Husbands: Images of the Powerful Housewife inNetherlandish 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, Alle schilderijen
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, ed. and trans.
Edward G. Hawke, 1: 211–12, no. 783, 8 vols. (London, 1907–28), originally published as
Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen
Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, 10 vols. (Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28).

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].

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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From whom acquired by the present owner.

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. Edited and translatedby Edward G. Hawke, 5: 38–9, no. 95. 8 vols. London, 1907–28. Originally published asBeschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen
Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28.
Braun, Karel. Alle tot nu toe bekende 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© 2020 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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horizontal grain is oriented slightly diagonally. The bevel along right edge is extremelyshallow.
2. 14.5 cm up from lower edge along the left side, 13 cm up from lower edge along the rightside.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection