Jan Steen is famous for his pictoral puns. His humerous paintings of dissolute households, merrymaking peasants outside inns, quacks at village fairs, and lovesick maidens tended by sham doctors are known the world over. Steen was unsurpassed in his ability to poke fun at every conceivable human weakness and vice. His narrative scenes make us laugh, but also teach us lessons. In addition, his large and varied oeuvre contains important history paintings....

"New York Times bestselling author and art critic Laura Cumming reveals the fascinating, little-known story of the Thunderclap--the massive explosion at a gunpowder store in Holland that killed Carel Fabritius, renowned painter of The Goldfinch, and nearly killed Johannes Vermeer, painter of Girl with a Pearl Earring--two of the greatest artists of the 17th century"-- Provided by publisher.