Fake History Hunter

This article was originally a thread on social media, which is why it is formatted with lots of images and short responses.
The text is about the image below that paragraph.

This is ‘The Saint Nicolas Feast’ (1660s) by one of my favourite Dutch painters Jan Steen.

First a bit of background information: every year around December 5th we cloggies celebrate Saint Nicolas evening.
Nic comes along and gives candy & toys to the good children and nothing or punishment to the bad ones. It’s awesome and mildly terrifying, like all good traditions are.
Nicholas is much loved because he did some very cool miracles, allegedly. Like saving boys who had been already murdered, chopped into little bits & cured, which is really rather difficult & impressive.
I mean I can’t do that, can you?

He also heard about a poor man with three daughters who he couldn’t afford dowry’s for and their situation was so dire the girls might end up becoming prostitutes.
Nicholas wanted to help but was raised properly and was a modest lad, didn’t want to get credit or show off his generosity like all those other people on social media & tv, so he secretly threw gold coins through a window in the evening:

Anyway, Nicholas was a good guy and did all those miracles (allegedly), so they made him a saint and people started celebrating him and his deeds. In the low countries they do that by giving gifts, treats & punishing naughty children, AS ONE SHOULD 😉
We still give cold coins, but with chocolate because we’re Dutch and gold costs a lot more money.

And yes, that Nicholas later became Santa, but that’s a whole different story. We cloggies get both Nicholas & Santa and two holidays for the price of one, all thanks to the same saint. We win!
Anyway, back to the painting, more about Nic here; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas

Back to the painting.
So, it’s the 1660s, a Dutch family is celebrating Saint Nicholas evening and we’re all invited!
It’s not yet dark but we can see it’s cold outside, we’re lucky to be indoors, if you listen carefully you can hear the wind howl around the house!
Some have suggested that this painting shows Jan Steen’s own family, but as far as I know that’s not certain:

Our eye is drawn to the girl in the middle she is having the time of her life. She must have been very good because she got spoiled.
A doll of a saint and a bucket full of toys!

She is turning away from the lady, did the woman ask to have a look at the girl’s toys and she is going “no, mine!” or did the lady just hand the toys over or maybe asking for a hug?

Behind them is a very cheeky looking boy, what is he grinning about, what is he pointing at?

It’s the older boy, he is really upset, we can guess why:

The older girl shows us why he’s crying, there’s the boys shoe: empty except for a rod made of twigs to be thrashed with. He must have been naughty!! She too has a big smile, perhaps she was the victim of some of his pranks or witnessed his misdeeds, you know what brothers can be like:

But maybe he just needed a bit of a scare, because the old lady, perhaps granny, has something up her sleeve, or technically, something hidden behind the bed curtain, she’s gesturing.
I think Nicholas left something for the naughty boy as well but gave it to granny, so he could learn a lesson first:

In another corner we see a big boy tell the little ones about how Nicholas dropped the presents down the chimney.
Part of the wonderful tradition is that when you get older you’re told the secrets and become part of the conspiracy, you tell your little siblings the stories and help create the magic of such an tradition:

In the centre is dad or granddad, just enjoying the chaos, happy, content, perhaps thinking about when his kids were kids or when he himself was a child celebrating the very same holiday.
I too think back to those evenings with some melancholy, I miss them;

A holiday celebration of course comes with lots of candy.
Apples, Speculaas, bread, sugar treats and is that an apple with a coin stuck in it?

You can almost smell all this delicious goodness. I bet some of the kids are going to have a tummy ache soon:

I love the painting, it allows us to experience an evening in the past, common folk celebrating a holiday at home.
Almost like looking at the photos of our own childhood.
But wait, what’s that?
If I zoom in & enhance, I think I can see the gift granny has hidden for the boy!

Ah of course, it’s the very best gift to give to naughty kids who spread fake history!
Sorry, I couldn’t resist, forgive me dear reader, forgive me Mr. Steen.

If you liked this art review, check out the list here of all the other reviews I’ve written;

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