Girl Eating Oysters by Jan Steen - c. 1658 - 1660 - 20,4 x 15,1 cm Mauritshuis, The Hague Girl Eating Oysters by Jan Steen - c. 1658 - 1660 - 20,4 x 15,1 cm Mauritshuis, The Hague

Girl Eating Oysters

oil on canvas • 20,4 x 15,1 cm
  • Jan Steen - c. 1626 - before February 3, 1679 Jan Steen c. 1658 - 1660
Oh, I would eat a good oyster!

Jan Steen’s paintings often have a touch of eroticism. Here, a young woman is looking at us coquettishly while preparing an oyster. Oysters were known as an aphrodisiac, and this girl seems to be offering more than just good food.

This small painting is meant to be studied close up. So Steen painted it very precisely and in great detail. Take the silver tray with bread and salt, for example. Or the fashionable jacket with fur and velvet—you can almost stroke it.
 
We present today's painting thanks to the Mauritshuis in The Hague.  : )))  Enjoy : )
 
P.S. Here you can get to know why genre paintings and still-lifes were social media of the 17th-century Holland and here you can find fun and joy in Jan Steen paintings!  :-)