Jan Havicksz. Steen

Jan Havicksz. Steen (1626-1679)

Jan Havicksz. Steen was born in Leiden in 1626, the son of a brewer. Educated at a Latin schoolLatin SchoolThis was what the schools of the early Middle Ages founded by bishops or monasteries (and later on by municipalities) were called. In these schools the humanities or liberal arts were taught: grammar, rhetoric, oratory, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. Some of these schools focused on basic reading and writing skills; others offered a kind of secondary education. In the 19th century the Latin School was increasingly replaced by the Gymnasium that also taught Greek; modern languages and the sciences were also taught - subjects that had virtually no place in the curriculum of the Latin School. he enrolled in 1646 at Leiden university, although he was never to actually graduate. Little is known for certain about Steen's apprenticeship as a painter. Early eighteenth-century biographers of artists record that he was taught by various painters: Nicolaus Knupfer, Adriaen van Ostade as well as landscape painter Jan van Goyen, whose daughter he married in 1649. One year earlier he had registered as a master painter with the Leiden guild of artistsPainters' guildGuilds were associations of people with a common aim or profession. Guilds of painters first appeared in the Netherlands in the 13th century. They were named after their patron saint: St Luke. Craftsmen had to be members of the guild to practice their trade. They were expected to adhere to certain requirements relating to quality and price, but the guilds also had funds to protect their members against hardship, economic or social. An extensive system of apprenticeship was maintained by the guilds. Only a fully-trained master could become a member of a guild. House painters and fine-art painters alike belonged to the St Luke's guild. In the 17th century, however, the artists became increasingly hostile towards the craftsmen, or 'coarse painters'., indicating that his apprenticeship was now over.