Adolf and Catharina Croeser, Known as ‘The Burgomaster of Delft and his Daughter’

Jan Havicksz. Steen

1655

oil on canvas

Rijksmuseum

A man in dark clothing sits on steps outside a building, holding a paper. A young girl in a light-colored dress stands to his left, and a woman with a child and a basket approaches from the right. A church tower is visible in the background. Legs wide apart and his right arm akimbo, Croeser sits on the stoop of his house on the Oude Delft canal in Delft. His thirteen-year-old daughter Catharina looks straight out at us. Jan Steen included a narrative element in this portrait: a poor woman and child beg for alms from the wealthy grain merchant. In 1657, just two years after this portrait was made, Croeser stood surety for Steen, who was seriously in debt.