Brief Biography-Jan Havickszoon Steen was from a brewing family from Leiden, Holland. He is known mainly for painting humorous genre scenes; however, he painted many portraits and religious and historical subjects. His masters were Nikolaus Knüpfer in Utrecht and Jan van Goyen at the Hague. Adriaen Ostade and Adriaen Brouwer later influenced him in Haarlem.
He married Margaretta, the daughter of Jan van Goyen in 1649. Their children appear in many of his paintings. A painting in the Dublin National Gallery, The Schoolmaster or A village School, somewhat humorously depicts the delight on two of their faces as their older brother receives his punishment. Those same faces reappear in other settings.
In Delft, he ran a brewery for three years before moving to Haarlem in 1670. His output was prolific during that period. After his wife and father died in 1669 and 1670, he married Marie van Egmont, moved back to Leiden to acquire his father’s estate, and spent his last years there. His paintings hang throughout several European galleries; many are in private collections.