WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.439 Okay, I want you to close your eyes for a second. 00:00:01.540 --> 00:00:04.059 We're going on a little trip. Imagine you just 00:00:04.059 --> 00:00:06.620 walked into a room in the Dutch Republic, maybe 00:00:06.620 --> 00:00:11.859 around 1668. And the first thing that hits you 00:00:11.859 --> 00:00:14.919 is the noise. It is just deafeningly loud. There's 00:00:14.919 --> 00:00:16.920 a bagpipe screeching. People are shouting over 00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:20.160 the music. A dog is probably barking somewhere. 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:22.519 It sounds like a party you walked into by mistake. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:24.519 Or maybe one you've been looking for all night. 00:00:25.019 --> 00:00:28.710 Then the smell hits you. Pipe smoke. Heavy and 00:00:28.710 --> 00:00:31.350 sweet, mixed with spilled wine and roasted meat. 00:00:31.530 --> 00:00:33.509 You're really painting a picture. And visually, 00:00:33.609 --> 00:00:36.729 it's just chaos. But it's this warm, inviting 00:00:36.729 --> 00:00:39.229 chaos. You see a family, three generations of 00:00:39.229 --> 00:00:41.670 them, all crammed around a table. The colors 00:00:41.670 --> 00:00:45.460 are incredibly rich. Deep violets, warm oranges, 00:00:45.780 --> 00:00:48.759 shimmering pinks. It feels cozy. It feels like 00:00:48.759 --> 00:00:51.280 a celebration. Right. But here's the thing. While 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:53.340 it looks like a scene of, you know, domestic 00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:55.840 bliss, we are actually looking at a crime scene. 00:00:55.939 --> 00:00:59.119 A moral crime scene anyway. Exactly. Today we 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:01.399 are unpacking one of the absolute heavyweights 00:01:01.399 --> 00:01:03.640 of the Dutch Golden Age. We're looking at John 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:07.219 Steen's masterpiece, As the Old Sing, So Pipe 00:01:07.219 --> 00:01:09.140 the Young. Which is hanging in the Mauritius 00:01:09.140 --> 00:01:11.159 in the Hague right now. And I think it's terrifying 00:01:11.159 --> 00:01:14.840 parents just as effectively today as it did 350 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:17.859 years ago. Terrifying is the right word, isn't 00:01:17.859 --> 00:01:20.239 it? Despite how cheerful it all looks. It's a 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:23.219 trap. Sting draws you in with these warm colors 00:01:23.219 --> 00:01:25.640 and the laughing faces. And then once you're 00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:28.310 comfortable, he hits you with the lecture. It's 00:01:28.310 --> 00:01:31.390 a masterclass in satire. So the mission for this 00:01:31.390 --> 00:01:34.170 deep dive is to figure out how Steen pulls off 00:01:34.170 --> 00:01:36.969 this magic trick. We're going to sort of read 00:01:36.969 --> 00:01:39.950 this painting like a book. Yeah, decode it. Decode 00:01:39.950 --> 00:01:43.069 the symbols, the history, and this very specific 00:01:43.069 --> 00:01:45.689 anxiety that was plaguing Dutch society in the 00:01:45.689 --> 00:01:48.409 17th century. Because this isn't just a picture 00:01:48.409 --> 00:01:51.310 of a messy party. It's a manifesto on nature 00:01:51.310 --> 00:01:53.450 versus nurture. That's the core of it, really. 00:01:53.819 --> 00:01:55.640 And to understand that, we have to start with 00:01:55.640 --> 00:01:58.780 that incredible title, As the Old Sing, So Pipe 00:01:58.780 --> 00:02:02.680 the Young. In Dutch, that's, what was it? Suvorgzongen 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:05.659 Suenagapiepen. Exactly. It sounds distinctly 00:02:05.659 --> 00:02:07.959 like a proverb. I know the Dutch in the 1600s 00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:09.939 loved their proverbs almost as much as they loved 00:02:09.939 --> 00:02:12.460 their tulips. They absolutely did. And this one 00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:15.479 comes from a man named Jacob Katz, who was basically 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:18.919 the Dr. Phil or the moral grandfather of the 00:02:18.919 --> 00:02:21.639 Netherlands at the time. His poetry books were 00:02:21.639 --> 00:02:23.699 in almost every household. Right next to the 00:02:23.699 --> 00:02:26.659 Bible. Wow. And the proverb is pretty literal 00:02:26.659 --> 00:02:29.340 on the surface. Just as the old birds sing, the 00:02:29.340 --> 00:02:32.099 young birds pipe or chirp the same tune. So monkey 00:02:32.099 --> 00:02:35.159 see, monkey do. Essentially. Yeah. But we have 00:02:35.159 --> 00:02:37.000 to place this in the context of the Dutch Golden 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:40.080 Age. This was a society that had suddenly become 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:43.199 incredibly wealthy. You had merchants and brewers 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:45.419 making fortunes that their parents could only 00:02:45.419 --> 00:02:48.000 dream of. And with that new money came a massive 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.199 societal anxiety. Yes. Are we ruining our children? 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:53.819 A tale as old as time, right? The fear that the 00:02:53.819 --> 00:02:56.560 next generation will be soft or spoiled because 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:58.960 they didn't have to struggle. Exactly. And the 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.979 Dutch had a very specific pseudoscientific view 00:03:01.979 --> 00:03:04.639 on this. They saw inheritance as a two -sided 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:08.240 coin. On one side, you had blood, nature. You 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:10.199 inherit your father's nose, your mother's eyes. 00:03:10.340 --> 00:03:13.460 But the other side was behavior or nurture. They 00:03:13.460 --> 00:03:15.780 believed a child's character was like soft wax. 00:03:16.330 --> 00:03:18.389 Oh, I see where this is going. If a parent acted 00:03:18.389 --> 00:03:21.150 like a fool, they were literally stamping foolishness 00:03:21.150 --> 00:03:23.610 into the soul of their child. That puts an immense 00:03:23.610 --> 00:03:25.689 amount of pressure on parents. It's not just 00:03:25.689 --> 00:03:28.430 don't do bad things. It's if you do bad things, 00:03:28.689 --> 00:03:31.189 you are biologically programming your child to 00:03:31.189 --> 00:03:34.370 be a disaster. Precisely. And Janstein was obsessed 00:03:34.370 --> 00:03:37.110 with this idea. He painted this specific theme, 00:03:37.289 --> 00:03:40.590 the bad family, something like... 13 times. Yeah. 00:03:40.750 --> 00:03:43.310 But this version we're looking at is the definitive 00:03:43.310 --> 00:03:46.710 one. It's the sharpest, most complex take. Okay, 00:03:46.750 --> 00:03:48.210 so let's get into the visual evidence. We're 00:03:48.210 --> 00:03:50.669 looking at a large canvas. It's pretty commanding, 00:03:50.669 --> 00:03:53.909 and it's dominated by these three generations. 00:03:54.129 --> 00:03:55.930 Let's start with the old who are doing the singing, 00:03:56.129 --> 00:03:59.750 the grandmother. Right, in the foreground. She's 00:03:59.750 --> 00:04:01.689 sitting there looking a bit flushed, and she's 00:04:01.689 --> 00:04:04.449 holding a sheet of music wide open. Art historians 00:04:04.449 --> 00:04:06.610 are pretty sure this is modeled after Steen's 00:04:06.610 --> 00:04:09.110 own mother. Oh, really? Yeah. And she isn't just 00:04:09.110 --> 00:04:11.909 reading the music. She is belting it out. She 00:04:11.909 --> 00:04:14.810 represents the decree, you know, the example 00:04:14.810 --> 00:04:17.269 being set. And then next to her, we have the 00:04:17.269 --> 00:04:19.370 parents. And this is where it gets really interesting. 00:04:19.949 --> 00:04:22.790 The father, the guy on the right in the black 00:04:22.790 --> 00:04:25.009 hat who looks like he's having the time of his 00:04:25.009 --> 00:04:28.290 life. That's John Steen. That's him. A self -portrait. 00:04:28.620 --> 00:04:31.540 He didn't paint himself as like the wise man 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:33.379 in the corner shaking his head. He painted himself 00:04:33.379 --> 00:04:35.540 as the ringleader of the circus. And look what 00:04:35.540 --> 00:04:38.339 he's doing. He's laughing maniacally and he's 00:04:38.339 --> 00:04:41.379 holding a pipe out to his son. He is literally 00:04:41.379 --> 00:04:45.040 teaching his young child to smoke tobacco. It's 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:48.660 such a shocking image even today. You see a toddler 00:04:48.660 --> 00:04:50.939 basically reaching for a pipe and his father 00:04:50.939 --> 00:04:53.720 isn't stopping him. He's encouraging him. And 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:56.519 this is where the visual pun comes in. The proverb 00:04:56.519 --> 00:05:01.050 says, as the old sing. So piped the young. In 00:05:01.050 --> 00:05:03.990 Dutch, piping can mean singing like a bird. But 00:05:03.990 --> 00:05:07.230 it also means smoking a pipe. Exactly. So Steen 00:05:07.230 --> 00:05:09.610 is being very clever. The father smokes a pipe 00:05:09.610 --> 00:05:11.829 so the son learns to smoke a pipe. The metaphor 00:05:11.829 --> 00:05:14.129 becomes completely literal. And the mother isn't 00:05:14.129 --> 00:05:16.709 exactly helping. She's the woman in the lavender 00:05:16.709 --> 00:05:18.509 skirt and that green coat, which, by the way, 00:05:18.509 --> 00:05:21.050 is beautifully painted. Oh, he was a master of 00:05:21.050 --> 00:05:23.990 texture. And that's his wife, Marguerite van 00:05:23.990 --> 00:05:27.519 Goyen. Notice her posture. She's relaxed, leaning 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:30.420 back. Her glass is empty. But she has it outstretched 00:05:30.420 --> 00:05:33.699 and a servant is pouring her a refill. Yes. So 00:05:33.699 --> 00:05:36.160 grandma's loud, dad is getting the kid hooked 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:38.759 on nicotine, and mom is getting drunk. It's a 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:41.319 trifecta of vice. And because they're doing it, 00:05:41.379 --> 00:05:43.000 the children are following suit. You see the 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:45.240 younger son with the pipe, but the older son, 00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:47.279 the boy on the bench, he's playing the bagpipes. 00:05:47.399 --> 00:05:50.540 Which, to a 17th century viewer, was a huge red 00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:52.889 flag. Right. Let's pause on the bagpipes because 00:05:52.889 --> 00:05:55.649 today I see bagpipes and I think, oh, some folk 00:05:55.649 --> 00:05:58.129 music, maybe a Scottish parade or something. 00:05:58.310 --> 00:06:00.430 Not in the Dutch Republic. This is a crucial 00:06:00.430 --> 00:06:04.290 cultural code. In the 1600s, sophisticated people 00:06:04.290 --> 00:06:07.149 played the lute or the harpsichord, instruments 00:06:07.149 --> 00:06:09.889 that required study, precision. They represented 00:06:09.889 --> 00:06:12.730 harmony. And the bagpipe. The bagpipe was a peasant 00:06:12.730 --> 00:06:16.310 instrument. It was loud. It was droning. And 00:06:16.310 --> 00:06:18.730 it was associated with. Body village festivals, 00:06:18.889 --> 00:06:21.370 drinking, debauchery. And wasn't there a physical 00:06:21.370 --> 00:06:23.829 connotation to the shape of it? Oh, absolutely. 00:06:23.910 --> 00:06:28.089 It was undeniably phallic. In Dutch slang and 00:06:28.089 --> 00:06:31.629 folklore, the bagpipe was often a euphemism for, 00:06:31.689 --> 00:06:34.589 well, for male genitalia or sexual appetite. 00:06:34.870 --> 00:06:37.310 So having the son play it isn't just about him 00:06:37.310 --> 00:06:40.610 being loud. No. Steen is signaling that the boy 00:06:40.610 --> 00:06:43.129 is becoming low. He's adopting the morals of 00:06:43.129 --> 00:06:45.329 a drunk peasant. He's heading down a path of 00:06:45.329 --> 00:06:48.930 lust and, you know. Lack of control. That's devastating. 00:06:49.449 --> 00:06:51.350 The parents clearly have money. You can tell 00:06:51.350 --> 00:06:53.310 by the clothes, the silver platter, the expensive 00:06:53.310 --> 00:06:55.689 carpet on the table. But their son is behaving 00:06:55.689 --> 00:06:58.009 like a peasant because of their example. Exactly. 00:06:58.230 --> 00:07:00.750 Money can't buy class, and it certainly doesn't 00:07:00.750 --> 00:07:02.629 buy good parenting. That's the warning. This 00:07:02.629 --> 00:07:04.850 whole idea of mimicry seems to be everywhere 00:07:04.850 --> 00:07:07.050 in the painting. I'm looking at the top left 00:07:07.050 --> 00:07:09.490 corner, and there's a parrot. Yes, the parrot. 00:07:09.649 --> 00:07:12.329 Now, usually in Dutch art, a parrot means exotic 00:07:12.329 --> 00:07:15.350 trade, wealth. It's a status symbol. Look at 00:07:15.350 --> 00:07:17.589 us. We can afford a bird from the tropics. Right. 00:07:17.649 --> 00:07:20.629 But here, Steen is using the parrot for its biological 00:07:20.629 --> 00:07:23.470 trait. What does a parrot do? It repeats whatever 00:07:23.470 --> 00:07:26.730 it hears without understanding it. It's a mindless 00:07:26.730 --> 00:07:29.430 mimic. Yeah. The parrot is the mascot of this 00:07:29.430 --> 00:07:31.990 family. It doesn't have a moral compass. It just 00:07:31.990 --> 00:07:34.170 reflects the noise around it, just like the children. 00:07:34.449 --> 00:07:38.050 Wow. That is such a sharp detail. And right near 00:07:38.050 --> 00:07:40.009 the parrot, there's another birdcage, a smaller 00:07:40.009 --> 00:07:42.810 one. Yes, with two birds inside. This is a classic 00:07:42.810 --> 00:07:45.500 Dutch visual rhyme. Two birds in a small cage 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:48.220 was often a metaphor for two parents in a small 00:07:48.220 --> 00:07:52.660 abode or the domestic partnership. It emphasizes 00:07:52.660 --> 00:07:55.279 that the rot starts at the head in the marriage 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:57.500 itself. And speaking of the marriage, there's 00:07:57.500 --> 00:07:59.879 a detail I noticed that connects Steen and his 00:07:59.879 --> 00:08:02.300 wife, the figures in the painting. They're both 00:08:02.300 --> 00:08:04.319 wearing pink ribbons. She has one in her hair. 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:07.000 He has one on his hat. Good eye. That's more 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:09.319 than fashion. It's a visual link. It implies 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:11.879 they are cut from the same spool. It unifies 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:14.189 them in their guilt. You can't just blame. The 00:08:14.189 --> 00:08:16.110 father or just the mother, they are tied together 00:08:16.110 --> 00:08:18.810 in this conspiracy of bad parenting. I love how 00:08:18.810 --> 00:08:20.589 these paintings are like onions. You peel back 00:08:20.589 --> 00:08:23.089 party, you get bad parenting, you peel that back, 00:08:23.149 --> 00:08:24.949 and you get sexual vice. Because there's food 00:08:24.949 --> 00:08:27.410 on the table, too. Specifically, oysters. Ah, 00:08:27.529 --> 00:08:30.350 the oyster. The most charged food in art history. 00:08:30.569 --> 00:08:33.289 It's never just a snack, is it? Never. In the 00:08:33.289 --> 00:08:35.889 17th century, the oyster was the ultimate symbol 00:08:35.889 --> 00:08:39.370 of aphrodite love, sexual availability, fertility. 00:08:39.750 --> 00:08:42.269 Yeah. It was considered an aphrodisiac. But didn't 00:08:42.269 --> 00:08:45.299 you say that symbol was a bit... Retro by the 00:08:45.299 --> 00:08:48.440 1660s? I did. You have a sharp memory. It had 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:51.720 faded a bit, yes. Steen bringing it back here 00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:54.539 is significant. He's reviving this old symbol 00:08:54.539 --> 00:08:57.559 of gluttony and lust to show that the parents' 00:08:57.679 --> 00:08:59.940 appetites aren't just for wine and tobacco. They're 00:08:59.940 --> 00:09:02.340 consumed by their own desires. And when you're 00:09:02.340 --> 00:09:05.039 focused on your own pleasure, the pipe, the cup, 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:07.720 the oyster, you aren't looking at your kids. 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:10.549 It's the definition of negligence. They're present 00:09:10.549 --> 00:09:13.210 physically, but absent morally. And I guess the 00:09:13.210 --> 00:09:15.110 pipe wordplay comes back again. You've got the 00:09:15.110 --> 00:09:17.429 smoking pipe, the bagpipe. In an old Dutch, a 00:09:17.429 --> 00:09:20.190 specific type of tall wine glass or vessel was 00:09:20.190 --> 00:09:22.149 also sometimes called a peep. So you have this 00:09:22.149 --> 00:09:24.769 triple pun running through the whole image. Smoking, 00:09:24.769 --> 00:09:27.570 music, drinking, all covered by the title. That 00:09:27.570 --> 00:09:29.690 is just incredibly dense storytelling. It's like 00:09:29.690 --> 00:09:32.210 a meme, basically. A very high -effort, oil -painted 00:09:32.210 --> 00:09:35.350 meme. It is. And that brings us to the man himself, 00:09:35.809 --> 00:09:39.240 Jan Steen. We need to talk about why he painted 00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:41.500 himself as the villain. I mean, that's a bold 00:09:41.500 --> 00:09:44.340 move. It feels risky, especially since Steen 00:09:44.340 --> 00:09:46.379 had a bit of a reputation in real life, didn't 00:09:46.379 --> 00:09:49.120 he? He did. He came from a Catholic family in 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:51.879 Leiden. His father was a brewer, which explains 00:09:51.879 --> 00:09:54.039 the comfort with alcohol, but the business struggled. 00:09:54.539 --> 00:09:56.919 Steen himself was constantly in financial trouble. 00:09:57.100 --> 00:09:59.580 He ran a tavern for a while, moved cities to 00:09:59.580 --> 00:10:02.460 dodge creditors. He lived a chaotic life. Isn't 00:10:02.460 --> 00:10:04.759 there a Dutch saying about that? Yes, to this 00:10:04.759 --> 00:10:08.879 day. A John Steen household. No way. People still 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:10.919 say that. They do. If you walk into a house that's 00:10:10.919 --> 00:10:13.480 messy, loud, and disorganized, you say, it's 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:15.960 a John Steen household in here. Yeah. He became 00:10:15.960 --> 00:10:18.759 the icon of domestic chaos. So by painting himself 00:10:18.759 --> 00:10:21.860 as the laughing, irresponsible father, he's leaning 00:10:21.860 --> 00:10:23.820 into the brand. He's winking at the audience. 00:10:24.059 --> 00:10:26.679 He knows you know who he is. But there's a deeper 00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:30.039 layer to that laughing face. In 17th century 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:33.240 philosophy, the wise man was serious, stoic, 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:36.000 laughter. Laughter was the mark of the fool. 00:10:36.779 --> 00:10:39.279 The drunkard. So it's self -deprecation. He's 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:42.299 casting himself as the fool. He is. But this 00:10:42.299 --> 00:10:44.419 raises a fascinating question about his patrons. 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:48.299 Who is buying this painting? We know his work 00:10:48.299 --> 00:10:50.360 was collected by respectable people. Doctors, 00:10:50.539 --> 00:10:53.340 lawyers, pharmacists. That seems counterintuitive. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:56.039 Why would a respectable doctor want a painting 00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:58.679 of a drunk smoking family hanging in his hallway? 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:02.120 Two reasons. First, the technique. He was an 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:04.690 incredible painter. The way he captures light, 00:11:04.870 --> 00:11:07.330 the sheen of the silk, the smoke hanging in the 00:11:07.330 --> 00:11:10.230 air. It's beautiful to look at. It's visually 00:11:10.230 --> 00:11:12.529 pleasing, even if the subject is ugly. Right. 00:11:12.769 --> 00:11:15.350 But secondly, and more importantly, it served 00:11:15.350 --> 00:11:18.230 a didactic purpose. It was a conversation piece. 00:11:18.409 --> 00:11:20.490 The doctor could invite his friends over, point 00:11:20.490 --> 00:11:22.649 to the painting, and say, look at this disaster. 00:11:22.929 --> 00:11:25.840 This is what happens if you lose control. Thank 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:28.600 goodness we aren't like that. Ah, so it's schadenfreude. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:31.440 It's a way to signal your own virtue by contrasting 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:33.379 it with the vice on the wall. I keep this to 00:11:33.379 --> 00:11:36.299 remind myself what not to be. Exactly. It allowed 00:11:36.299 --> 00:11:38.779 them to enjoy the transgressive thrill of the 00:11:38.779 --> 00:11:41.000 party. Because, let's be honest, the party looks 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.240 fun while maintaining their moral superiority. 00:11:43.720 --> 00:11:45.899 It's the same reason we watch reality TV shows 00:11:45.899 --> 00:11:49.019 about hoarding. We get to gawk at the mess and 00:11:49.019 --> 00:11:50.940 feel better about our own laundry pile. That 00:11:50.940 --> 00:11:53.279 is the perfect modern parallel. We haven't changed 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:56.120 much in 350 years. But I keep coming back to 00:11:56.120 --> 00:11:58.480 Steen's face in the painting. He looks so happy. 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:02.000 Knowing about his life, though, the debts, the 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:05.259 struggles. Is there a tragedy hidden in there? 00:12:05.460 --> 00:12:07.700 That's the interpretation that has gained traction 00:12:07.700 --> 00:12:10.620 in recent years. You can view this as a funny 00:12:10.620 --> 00:12:13.620 satire to sell to rich people. But you can also 00:12:13.620 --> 00:12:17.139 view it as a confession. Steen had children. 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:20.320 He knew he wasn't the perfect provider. He knew 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:22.830 the brewery was failing. When he paints himself 00:12:22.830 --> 00:12:25.470 teaching his son to smoke, is he laughing because 00:12:25.470 --> 00:12:28.190 it's a joke? Or is he laughing because it's the 00:12:28.190 --> 00:12:31.470 truth? That adds such a heavy, melancholic undertone 00:12:31.470 --> 00:12:33.730 to the whole thing. It stops being just a cartoon 00:12:33.730 --> 00:12:35.970 and becomes a very personal admission of guilt. 00:12:36.210 --> 00:12:38.629 It does. And I think that's why Steen is a master. 00:12:38.750 --> 00:12:40.629 If this were just a finger -wagging sermon, we 00:12:40.629 --> 00:12:42.309 would have forgotten it. But because he puts 00:12:42.309 --> 00:12:44.350 himself in the center of it, because he makes 00:12:44.350 --> 00:12:47.769 the vice look so warm and human, it sticks with 00:12:47.769 --> 00:12:49.799 you. It really does. It makes you look at your 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:51.720 own habits. We worry about screen time today, 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:54.080 parents on their phones while the kids watch, 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:58.600 but Steen was worrying about pipe time. The technology 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:02.100 changes, but the dynamic is identical. The mirror 00:13:02.100 --> 00:13:04.320 is still reflective. The painting asks the viewer, 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:06.600 what are you modeling? What song are you singing? 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:08.879 Because whatever it is, your children are going 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:11.700 to pipe it right back at you. That is a sobering 00:13:11.700 --> 00:13:14.389 thought to end on. We started with a party. And 00:13:14.389 --> 00:13:16.870 we ended with an existential crisis about parenting. 00:13:17.070 --> 00:13:20.710 That is the Jan Steen experience. I want to leave 00:13:20.710 --> 00:13:23.350 you with one final thought to mull over. We've 00:13:23.350 --> 00:13:25.549 talked about the noise, the smoke, the warning. 00:13:25.750 --> 00:13:28.909 But look at the painting one last time in your 00:13:28.909 --> 00:13:31.529 mind. The door is open. The light is flooding 00:13:31.529 --> 00:13:33.690 in. The viewer is standing right at the threshold. 00:13:34.309 --> 00:13:36.289 Steen isn't just showing us a family. He's inviting 00:13:36.289 --> 00:13:39.149 us in. He's offering us a chair. And the question 00:13:39.149 --> 00:13:41.190 isn't just, are they bad parents? The question 00:13:41.190 --> 00:13:43.659 is... Are you going to sit down and join them? 00:13:43.720 --> 00:13:45.720 Because the party looks pretty good and the moral 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:48.500 high ground is lonely. A dangerous invitation. 00:13:48.919 --> 00:13:51.440 Indeed. Thanks for taking this deep dive with 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:52.379 us. Until next time.