Artwork
Love Sickness
Love Sickness is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Jan Steen. It dates from 1660 and is held in the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The subject draws from biblical tradition, using medical care as an allegory for spiritual guidance, a common motif in 17th-century religious art.
The painting portrays a woman lying on a bed while a physician tends to her, a scene interpreted as the biblical story of Mary Magdalene being anointed by a physician, symbolizing repentance and spiritual healing. The composition includes a bed, a physician, and Mary Magdalene, linking the domestic setting to a moment of divine grace. These elements reflect the religious narrative of redemption within everyday life, emphasizing the transformative power of faith.
The work was created in 1660 and is housed in the Bavarian State Painting Collections at the Alte Pinakothek.
The subject draws from biblical tradition, using medical care as an allegory for spiritual guidance, a common motif in 17th-century religious art. The depiction aligns with the genre of religious painting, where everyday scenes serve didactic purposes. The artist's intent appears to convey moral and theological themes through intimate, narrative-driven imagery.
The painting measures 100.5 cm in height and 73.2 cm in width, executed in oil paint on canvas.
Technique & Style
Executed in oil paint on wood panel, the work measures 100.5 cm in height by 73.2 cm in width. It depicts a woman, a physician, and Mary Magdalene within an interior setting, reflecting religious themes characteristic of the period. The composition demonstrates Steen's characteristic use of narrative detail and vivid coloration to convey moral and emotional states.
The painting's surface exhibits careful handling typical of 17th-century Dutch oil techniques, with layered glazes contributing to depth and luminosity in the figures and drapery.
History & Provenance
The painting Love Sickness by Jan Steen was created in 1660 as an oil on canvas work. It is housed in the Bavarian State Painting Collections at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. The composition depicts a woman, a physician, a bed, and Mary Magdalene, reflecting religious themes through its genre and subject matter.
The work measures 100.5 cm in height and 73.2 cm in width, with its inception recorded in the year 1660.
Love Sickness by Jan Steen, painted in 1660, is held by the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, which forms part of the Bavarian State Painting Collections. The painting, executed in oil paint, measures 100.5 cm in height by 73.2 cm in width.
No specific accession number is recorded in the available sources, and no exhibition history is documented.
Context
Love Sickness by Jan Steen (1660) is classified as a religious painting within the oeuvre of the Dutch Golden Age master, reflecting the artist's engagement with biblical narratives despite his reputation for genre scenes. The work depicts a woman, physician, bed, and Mary Magdalene, aligning with iconographic traditions of penitence and spiritual transformation. It is housed in the Bavarian State Painting Collections at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, where it remains part of the permanent display of 17th-century European art.
Scholarship emphasizes its stylistic synthesis of Caravaggisti influence and Dutch realism, situating it within broader debates about the boundaries between genre painting and devotional imagery in the late 17th century. Its dimensions (100.5 cm × 73.2 cm) and material specificity underscore its status as a technically accomplished example of Baroque religious art.
Overview
Created in 1660, this oil painting titled “Love Sickness” is attributed to Dutch artist Jan Steen. The work portrays an intimate interior scene featuring a seated woman in a blue dress and white headscarf, a man leaning toward her, and a third figure in the background. A small dog rests near a basket, while a plain wall holds a fireplace, a statue and a mirror. The piece is part of the collection of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
Artist & collection
Artist
Jan Havickszoon Steen was a Dutch Golden Age painter, one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century.
Paintings of physicians by Jan Steen
The Dissolute Household
Merry Company on a Terrace
Esther, Ahasuerus, and Haman
Interior of an inn with an old man amusing himself with the landlady and two men playing backgammon, known as 'Two kinds of games'
The Drunken Couple
The Happy Family
Bathsheba after the Bath
