Jan Steen (Dutch, c. 1626–1679)
Wine Is a Mocker, 1663–64
Oil on canvas
Norton Simon Art Foundation, M.1969.05.P

Onlookers gawk as an unconscious woman is loaded into a wheelbarrow in this theatrical vignette cautioning against drunkenness. Although drinking halls, taverns and tobacco inns were part of Dutch society—the artist himself operated a brewery—during the 17th century many were alarmed by the increased availability and consumption of wine, gin and other types of alcohol, as opposed to beer. People thought that overindulgence could lead to social disorder, and women were seen to be particularly susceptible to this vice. In Jan Steen’s painting, the inebriated woman is dressed in rich fabrics, possibly indicating a higher-class status than those around her, yet her revealed red stockings and cast-off shoes, kerchief and pipe would have suggested to period viewers that intemperance could endanger any woman’s chastity. A partial inscription painted above the doorway reiterates Steen’s admonition against excessive wine drinking. It comes from Proverbs 20:1: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”

Insobriety was also believed to impinge on maternal duties and a woman’s role as a moral model for her family. This is suggested by the two children watching the main drama unfold. Their relationship to the woman is ambiguous, but they may be influenced by or find humor in her unsavory behavior: the boy rides a hobbyhorse, a contemporary symbol of folly. Steen expresses these moral sentiments in other paintings, such as The Effects of Intemperance, c. 1663–65 (Figure 4). There, a woman dressed in a fur-trimmed red jacket and blue skirt, much like the ones worn by the figure in Wine Is a Mocker, drunkenly sleeps on the house steps. As she slumbers, her children feed their lunch to the family pets, and her husband has an affair. The pipe in the mother’s hand reinforces this intoxication. Intellectuals, theologians, writers and physicians who saw themselves as moral authorities believed that both tobacco and alcohol dulled the senses. According to this line of 17th-century thought, nicotine’s addictive properties could lead to a lack of bodily or spiritual control, leaving the consumer—especially a female one—in danger of gluttony, sloth or other sins. Nevertheless, pipe tobacco was an incredibly popular and lucrative product during the period. For these paintings, it is likely that Steen was inspired by real examples of inebriation. The artist’s father had worked at the family brewery, the Red Halberd, and during an economic downturn after Steen’s move to Delft, he rented a brewery called the Snake to support his family.