Adolf and Catharina Croeser, Known as ‘The Burgomaster of Delft and his Daughter’

An elegant burgomaster leans from the window of his Delft house and offers an orange to a little girl on the street below, while a maidservant looks on from the open doorway. Painted in 1655, this is among the finest and best-loved works of Jan Steen, long known by the mistaken title ‘The Burgomaster of Delft and his Daughter’; in fact the sitters are Adolf Croeser and his daughter Catharina. The bright daylight along the street, the warm domestic setting, and the graceful, good-humoured composition all display the storytelling gift and the command of light and material that make Steen one of the most engaging Dutch genre painters.