The Cuckold Bridegroom

Here Jan Steen has opulently painted a genre scene with a morally instructive message. A somewhat older bridegroom is leading his reluctant and clearly heavily pregnant bride away from a party to their wedding night. The guests – including the artist, who has painted himself in the middle wearing a blue cape and playing a friction drum – are aware of the bride’s condition: on the right a young man is making the sign of the cuckold, holding up his hand with two spread fingers.