Trading Places: The Rijksmuseum Lends Rare Painting to the Taft Museum of Art
On view through June 16, 2024
Taft Museum of Art
Cincinnati, Ohio
taftmuseum.org
The Taft welcomes a rare work by a Dutch master from the Rijksmuseum, Jan Steen’s “Adolf and Catharina Croeser.” One of just eight portraits known to have been completed by Steen, Adolf and Catharina Croeser portrays a wealthy father and daughter on the front steps of their home in Delft, The Netherlands. The Croesers’ relationship to the woman and young boy who appear to be asking for charity remains a mystery. This juxtaposition of economic classes—unusual for a 17th-century portrait—illustrates the timeless necessity of helping others, sparking conversation about wealth distribution in our own time.
[Image: Jan Steen (Dutch, 1625/6–1679) Adolf and Catharina Croeser (also known as The Burgomaster of Delft and His Daughter), 1655, oil on canvas. Loan from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Purchased with the support of the MondriaanFonds, the Nationaal Aankoopfond.]
