his least restrained moments he is a kind of Dutch Jordaens, less
exuberant, less sturdy and florid and gesticulatory; but with the same
zest for living, the same union of old and young in any festival that
includes good meat and good drink with song and dance and horse-play. If
we compare "_Die Lustige Familie_" at Amsterdam with that ebullient
rendering of the same subject by Jordaens entitled "_Zoo de ouden
zongen: Zoo pypen de jongen_" that hangs in the Antwerp Museum, we have
no difficulty in perceiving the points of similarity. There even are
likenesses in the color-schemes of the two painters, Jordaen's silvery
yellows for once meeting their match; but we find in Steen's picture a
more subtle discrimination in the characters and temperaments lying
beneath the physical features of the gay company.

Oftentimes Steen indulges in a gay and harmless badinage as different as
possible from the bold and keen irony of his wilder themes. In "_Die
Katzentanz Stunde_" of the Rijks museum at Amsterdam the laughing
children putting the wretched little cat through a course of unwelcome
instruction, the excited pose of the dog, the concentration of the girl
upon her dance-music, are rendered with joyous freedom and animation,
and suggest a childlike mood. The lovely _Menagerie_ of the Hague is
conceived in a still milder and gentler temper, the demure child among
her pets, feeding her lamb, with her doves flying about her head and
the faithful little Steen dog in the background, is an idyllic figure.
Indeed the entire composition has a tenderness and almost a religious
depth of sentiment that make it unique among the painter's achievements.
Another charming composition in which homely pleasures enjoyed with
moderation and in a mood of simple merriment are delicately depicted is
"_Der Wirtshausgarten_" in Berlin, in which the young people and their
elders together with the happy dog are having a quiet meal under a green
arbor. Family pets play an important part in all these scenes of
domestic life; apparently Jan Steen even more than other Dutch painters
was interested in the idiosyncrasies of the animals about him and was
amused by incidents including them. His pictures gain by this a certain
suggestion of kindliness and community of good feeling that is
refreshing in the midst of the frequent vulgarity of theme and
sentiment. Reminiscences of the exquisite feeling shown in "_Die
Menagerie_" continually occur in such incidents