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JAN STEEN (LEIDEN 1626-LEIDEN 1679)
A Twelfth Night Feast: 'The King drinks'
RCIN 407489
The highlight of a Dutch Christmas was the feast celebrating the arrival of the Magi on 6 January, the ‘twelfth night’. Families drew lots to choose their ‘Lord of Misrule’, whose every sip was accompanied by shouts of ‘the King drinks’. Steen himself is depicted at the back of the group, triumphantly brandishing fresh pipes. On this occasion folly is not vice but duty.
Acquired by George IV in 1814
Cat. 21
