# The Merry Family

- By: Jan Havicksz. Steen (Leiden, ca. –1679)
- Date: 1668
- Medium: canvas, oil paint (paint)
- Classification: painting
- Dimensions: height 110.5 cm x width 141 cm
- Credit line: On loan from the City of Amsterdam (A. van der Hoop Bequest)
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/SK-C-229--f6c4f4db1681a8704b372bda0183623b)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://iiif.micr.io/SbsFC/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

The entire family is in high spirits, creating a ruckus: father, mother, and grandmother sing loudly, the children join in, and they even puff on long pipes. The note on the mantelpiece hints that there is a lesson to be learned from this painting: ‘As the old sing, so shall the young twitter.’ What is to become of the children if their parents set the wrong example?