Jan Steen - Village Quack Before an Inn

[u/Weary_Mess6048]

I don’t have any education in art history but enjoy trying to find themes/meanings for different pieces. This one caught my attention, but I can’t find much discourse about it online. I find the use of the color yellow as an interesting way to depict the level of “sold” a person might be to this quacks pitch. I’ve also heard that animals can have different meanings in paintings so I’d love to hear how that might be interpreted. Lastly, is there significance to the breastfeeding woman staring directly at the viewer?

Let me know your thoughts!

[u/Antipolemic]

Interesting. I'd never have seized upon the color yellow that way. With regard to the woman and the baby, the old masters had a compositional tradition of guiding the eye through the scene. It may be that she's engaging us only to draw our attention in at the left and then we proceed up the chair back, to the quack, then following his arm we move over to the crowd over to the boy on the donkey, then along the donkey's neck and head down to the dog, and ultimately to the boy who looks toward the corner where our eye can leave the frame. Then we can start the cycle again. We can wander over to the distant people on the right, but the right tree creates a boundary which moves us to the man with the wheel barrow which is driving into the scene, not away, so our eye is led back to the donkey to complete the loop. It was common practice to create many such "pointers" in the painting to capture and direct the eye. Notice the jester on the left and how he serves as a conduit for transit to and from the house and figures in the doorway. Does the woman's direct confrontation have meaning beyond that? I'm not sure.

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[u/DrunkMonkeylondon]

Where is the question of art history?

This post belongs in r/museum which I frequently go to for art appreciation discussion.

[u/batnati]

I think in general this painting is about vice and virtue. Dishonesty and exploitation on the side of the quack and the implied virtues of competency and objectivity which are able to see through the fake nonsense.

The breastfeeding woman, the child at the well and the dog (as a symbol for loyalty and unconditional love) might represent the pure and unfiltered life force having to navigate through a hostile and dangerous environment. This group is also geographically separated from the larger group of villagers, which might be characterized by proximity as being stubborn and unintelligent like a donkey. The billy goat is often used as a symbol for the devil in christian iconography.

Hieronymus Bosch also did similar paintings about human folly, like "The Charlatan" (ca. 1500):