"As the Old Sing, So Pipe the Young", in Dutch, Soo voer gesongen, soo na gepepen, is an oil-on-canvas painting executed c. 1668–1670 by Dutch artist Jan Steen. It is in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The painting is a celebratory holiday scene that depicts three generations of a Dutch family and serves as an allegory about parental examples, vice, and influence. This subject was painted thirteen times by Jan Steen and has also been known as The Cat Family, or Jan Steen's Family. Of the many renditions, the Mauritshuis version is considered to be the exemplar of the series. Its dimensions are 133.7 cm × 162.5 cm.
Subject matter
As the Old Sing so Pipe the Young is named after a famous proverb from Jacob Cats. It means that the vices of the youth are learned from the examples set by their elders. Steen references this throughout the painting. The parrot shows wealth and exoticism, but it could also reference the mimicry in the title. He uses the imagery of the pipes in the bagpipe player and in the man to the right of the painting who, laughing, allows his son to smoke from his pipe. Inherited traits were viewed by the Dutch people at the time as being a two-sided coin, in that a child would inherit genetic traits from their parents, but would also learn to emulate the behaviors that they witnessed. The depiction of three generations of family members in this scene is a direct allusion to this idea, with the parents providing seemingly poor examples to their children by drinking alcoholic beverages and encouraging the children to smoke. The title can also be interpreted as "Like father, like son". Such proverbs were popular in Dutch painting and are represented by many paintings by Steen and other artists. This painting has been linked to Steen's work titled The Twelfth Night Feast, the two paintings forming a diptych of the same theme. The theme is thought to be inspired by Jacob Jordaens, a contemporary Flemish painter. Jordaen's version preceded Steen's, having been painted ca. 1640. Like Jordaens, Steen paired proverbs with merry company paintings, which was popular and served a didactic purpose for the viewer.
Description
As a genre scene painting, the painting contains many iconographic elements that are open to the viewer's interpretation and ideas that relate to Dutch popular culture of the time. The painting consists of a gathering of family members (parents, children, grandparents) around a table that is draped with a carpet typical of Dutch scenes. Though the subject has been painted by Steen an estimated thirteen times, each one was depicted in a household setting as the theme for child rearing and parental interaction. Like most of Steen's paintings As the Old Sing... is of the merry company genre and depicts family life as a part of popular culture during the 17th century. Paintings of this particular period are commonly festive scenes in Dutch domestic settings. The large canvas displays Steen's mastery of painting light on surfaces, as can be seen in the treatment of light from the window reflected onto the surfaces of the models' clothing and furniture accents. The facial features of the subjects are painted in a realistic style with attention to light and shadow. The overall scene of the merry atmosphere is thought to be open and inviting with the figures situated in an open arrangement, with warm colors of orange, pink, purple, and brown; while casually enjoying themselves. The old lady in the foreground, thought to be Steen's mother, is holding a sheet of music that is open and can be easily read by the viewer. Steen is distinguished as a skilled comic painter and for depicting himself in his paintings, as well as members of his own family. Here he has depicted himself as the father seen in the right side of the canvas who is teaching his younger son to smoke a pipe. Such a painting was thought by the artist to have universal appeal and understanding, but of course, it would have had more resonance with a well-read person familiar with the proverbs, symbolism, and culture of the seventeenth century. Ironically, Steen's knowledge of such readings and traditions is considered to be rather sophisticated.