Jan Steen
The Foot Operation
Oil on panel. 36.5 x 29.5 cm.
Signed lower left: JSteen (JS conjoined), redrawn.
With a red varnish seal of J. B. Foucart and a label from the Foucart auction on the reverse (1898, no. 103).
The painful nature of the surgical procedure is reflected in the facial expressions and gestures of the three main participants - the doctor, patient and a woman attending the scene. With his expressive depiction of a foot operation in a rural setting, Jan Steen takes up a theme that Adriaen Brouwer developed in various compositions a few years before him, but gives it a humorous touch that is typical of his works.
The work is listed as an imitation in the book by Karel Braun, Jan Steen, Rotterdam 1980 under number B46.
Guido Jansen, who examined the painting on the original, however, confirms the full attribution to Jan Steen.
Provenance
Auctioned in Amsterdam, 25th July 1804, no. 73. - Auctioned by M. Udink, Amsterdam, 28th October 1808, no. 56. - Auctioned in Amsterdam, 10th October 1885, no. 277. - Auctioned by du Bus de Gisignies, Brussels, 14th April 1896. - Auctioned by Foucart te Valenciennes, 12th October 1898, no. 103. - D. A. Hoogendijk & Co. art dealers, Amsterdam 1937. - Auctioned by Sotheby Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 2th April 1976, lot 198 with illustration on p. 42 - Belgian private collection.
Literature
Hofstede de Groot, part 1, blz. 58, no. 218.