The Rape of the Sabine Women by Jan Steen, Dutch 1626-1679 SN 269 Oil on Canvas 1665/67 by Robert Anderson: Artist: Jan Steen was born at Leyden in 1626 and studied at the Hague under Jan van Goyen. He was a great narrator and humorist and excelled in the characterization of the Dutch middle classes. He is best known for his genre scenes depicting busy interiors, often with a strongly moralizing theme and frequently illustrating Dutch sayings. His work, in which his goal seems to have been to combine narrative, instruction and entertainment, revives the moralizing tradition of earlier Dutch genre painters.

The spectator of Steen's paintings was compelled to see the attitude, gestures and facial expressions of one of his figures together with the reactions they cause in face, limbs and body of one or more other figures.

Steen's humor functions on two levels simultaneously. At first sight the comical effect seems to rely solely on overstatement : strong and schematic characterization, expressive and often grimacing faces and rhetorical gestures. At the same time, however, there are subtle innuendos and ambiguous hints in the narrative that create an amazingly wide margin for the spectators own interpretation.

His few biblical and mythological subjects were sometimes treated as if they were genre subjects. He transplanted them to his own time and place so as to make the stories more accessible to his audience.

Steen was a prolific artist who executed biblical and mythological subjects as well as his many genre pieces. He also painted a few portraits and excelled in the depiction of children. At the end of his life he produced paintings that foreshadow the Rococo idylls of 18th century artists.

Subject:
Romulus, the founder of Rome, in order to secure wives for his settlers, arranged some public games and invited the Sabines and other tribes to attend. During the races the Romans seized the Sabine women and drove off the Sabine men. The Sabine King then declared war on the Romans and marched upon Rome. As the Sabine troops neared the heart of the city, the Sabine women secured an armistice on the plea that they would lose their husbands if the Sabines won and lose their brothers or fathers if the Romans won. Romulus then persuaded the Sabines to share the kingdom with him.

Painting:
Steen treats the old Roman legend with the humor of a merry-hearted Dutchman. The Roman heroes and Sabine women are depicted as Dutch Boers and Boerins. He has painted a lovely pastoral scene and has turned the "Rape" into a somewhat jolly event - humorous, but carrying a moral lesson in the iconographic elements that are inserted. For example - the girl in the center foreground reaches in despair towards the girdle (a ribbon), rose and pearls on the ground, symbols of her lost innocence; - tendrils of ivy, symbol of marital fidelity, have been loosened from the trunks of trees in the foreground and at the far right; - the girl is also dropping flowers on the ground as a leering figure from the repertory of the Commedia dell'Arte grasps her.

The brilliant feeling of Jan Steen for textures and colorful clothing and the marvelous energy of his figures are readily apparant in this painting. These pairs of struggling figures are linked back and forth in space across the foreground stage of the painting and the branches of the trees repeat the frenzied gestures of the girls.

Historical Context:
The idea of Woman as a victim (and sometime victor) is extremely common in Dutch art and in Steen himself ; for example, in a painting in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, he shows Erysichthon selling his daughter Hypermnestra for food. The artist treats other themes such as a sacrifice of Iphigenia and also the banquet of Antony and Cleopatra, in which the woman defeats the man.