The Point-Counterpoint of Jan Steen

During the seventeenth century, Dutch genre notion flourished, appealing to middle bod patrons by depicting normal life with charm and a lot a moral. Jan Steen was among the most thriving genre painters, weaving humorous commentary into his pictures of merriment. Rhetoricians at a Window, c. 1661-1666 (oil on canvas, 29 7/8 x 23 1/16 inches) serves as an exemplar, depicting a naturalistic expression combined with layers of meaning. in time the title may be read on some levels. Just as a rhetorician may call to an eloquent speaker, so, too, may it suggest to a pompous or bombastic person. Rhetorician as well conjures up the nonion of rhetoric, or the act of making a persuasive argument found on a closure and counter place structure. This painting smartly provides several layers of point-counterpoint arguments revealed through optic analysis, cargonful reading of phiz of the figures, and assessing the composition as a whole, including how it engages the viewer.\nVis ually, Steen presents a naturalistic scene set in a tavern or inn, believable in its details. Four dramatic figures are easily readable, not cartoonish or types, but depicted with individualistic features. Two more than shadowy figures emerge from the background. The quaternion figures up front are framed in a windowpane that fills the upper 2/3 of the painting, pushed forward in shallow space to the picture plane. The location is identifiable as a public keister where drink is served by the prominent, diamond-shaped sign, nailed to the window frame still saturnine center, hanging in the humble third of the painting. The sign features traverse swords, common symbols for power, protection, justice, courage, and strength. Here, the crossed swords in like manner serve as an disposed(predicate) emblem for the crossed arguments of the point and counterpoint of rhetoric. Across the transcend of the painting is a stagger of grapevine, with a bunch of grapes just right of center and some other bunch on the further leftfield, as the vine tumbles down the left ...