Feast of St. Nicholas

It is the eve of Saint Nicholas, and a Dutch household erupts in happy chaos: a little girl hugs the doll and treats she has been given, a boy bawls because his shoe holds only a birch rod, and a grandmother beckons with a secret while parents laugh. Jan Steen, famous for crowded, comic domestic scenes, packs the room with gleeful detail and gentle moral mischief. Now in the Rijksmuseum, it captures the warmth, noise, and small cruelties of family festivity - the holiday joy and disappointment of children rendered with affectionate humor.