You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Dutch. (January 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Children Teaching a Cat to Dance or The Dancing Lesson is an oil-on-panel genre painting by Jan Steen, executed c.1660–1679 and now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
| Children Teaching a Cat to Dance, Known as ‘The Dancing Lesson’ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Jan Steen  |
| Year | c.1660–1679 |
| Medium | oil paint, panel |
| Dimensions | 68.5 cm (27.0 in) × 59 cm (23 in) |
| Location | Rijksmuseum, Netherlands |
| Owner | Jacobus Salomon Hendrik van de Poll |
| Accession No. | SK-A-718 |
| Identifiers | RKDimages ID: 6390 Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur ID (deprecated): 20186081 |
The painting depicts a group of children attempting to make a cat dance to the music of a shawm. The cat is screeching and the dog barking but the children are having fun. However, the old man at the window clearly disapproves of their behaviour.
The work is a typical example of Steen's indoor scenes of everyday Dutch life.
Origin
editThe work comes from the collection of the jonkheer Jacob Salomon Hendrik van de Poll (1837–1880) in Amsterdam. He bequeathed his collection to the Rijksmuseum in 1880.
External links
edit- SK-A-718 painting record on museum website
 | This article about a seventeenth-century painting is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |