The painting in the background of the picture of me and Jim that you see at the top of the blog is by Jan Steen. It's called "Soo voer gesongen, soo na gepepen"
This is by no means a literal translation, but the closest thing we have in English to that Dutch saying is "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree". And you can see that youngsters are being 'led astray', especially the kid smoking the pipe on the right side!
This painting hangs in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, and that's where Jim and I are standing in the picture, outside the gates.
Jan Steen (pronounced Yahn Stain- like a stain on your shirt) is a very popular Dutch Golden Age artist. He is credited with the creation of several Dutch sayings, things that are still used in ordinary conversation today. Like "een huishouden van Jan Steen" means a chaotic and messy household. (The floor in the painting above is pretty tidy, but in other Steen paintings the floor is littered with objects, and little kids are shown getting into all kinds of mischief.)
When Jim and I posed for this picture (it was taken by our friend Carla- we were visiting her and her husband Baher in The Hague), we didn't even see this large reproduction of Steen's painting. Only afterwards, when we saw the picture, we smiled at the appropriateness (we both enjoy a nice glass of wine, and no one could accuse us of being, shall we say, overly fastidious housekeepers!) ;-)
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