公現祭の宴

The 6th of January, Twelfth Night, ended the Christmas season in the Dutch Republic, and Jan Steen painted exactly what a comfortable household made of it in 1662. Whoever found the bean baked into the cake was crowned king for the evening, and here the paper crown has gone to the baby of the family, whose mother tips his cup so he can drink his toast. Children crouch on the floor with three lit candles, one for each of the kings who followed the star to Bethlehem. A boy at the table offers another child a bite of festival waffle. Steen loved this kind of cheerful disorder and put it into picture after picture, whole households caught mid-celebration.