A Young Woman playing a Harpsichord to a Young Man

The instrument does the talking in this small panel. Below the keys of the harpsichord runs the motto Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone, the kind of pious line printed on the patterned paper that decorated such instruments. On the open lid is another, Acta virum probant, actions prove the man. The young woman keeps her eyes on her music, and the young man slouching over the harpsichord only dares a glance at her. Through the door behind them a page is bringing in a theorbo, a large lute, so that the two can play a duet, in Steen's day a familiar image of lovers in harmony.

Steen signed his name just above the keyboard, where an instrument maker would put his own, and dated it. The last two digits can no longer be read by eye, but under the microscope the final one reads as a 9, and the picture is dated 1659. It was the first painting by Steen to enter the National Gallery, in 1871, with the collection of the former prime minister Robert Peel.