Winter scene

Signed in monogram JS. Winter scene is one of the earliest known paintings by Steen. With its diagonal composition and silhouetted figures on the ice one can clearly see his early inspirations from paintings such as Isaac van Ostades Winter from 1645. Here, as often seen in other works by Steen and his contemporarys, the activites are being watched by a well dressed couple who occupies a central position in the composition.

The painting was bought on behalf of Carl Gustaf Wrangel by the swedish ambassador Harald Appelbom at an auction in the Hauge on 3 July 1651. During that same auction Appelbom also bought three other paintings by Jan Steen for Wrangel, described as A rich mans kitchen, A poor mans kitchen and Hagar. The first and the second most likely corresponds with the paintings The fat Kitchen (now in private collection) and The lean Kitchen (now in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa). The third one however is more difficult to trace, it is possible that it is the same painting as the one now entitled Hagar in the desert (on the art market 1996).