jan steen arranges the various actors as though on a theatre stage. the gentle depth of the composition is based on a triangle, with the magnificently dressed young woman at its top point. her clothing and seductive look identify her as a loose-living girl. she, however, is not the focus of the scene; that is provided by the lady of the house, who has fallen asleep at the table on the left. her absence has resulted in the rest of the story: the dog is finishing the meat pie that was served on the table, one of the children is filching something from the cabinet on the wall opportunity makes the thief , the little girl’s brother is trying out a pipe, and the youngest child, sitting in his highchair, is playing carelessly with a string of pearls. his attention diverted to the side, a young man is trying to play a violin. young people who continued to live at home were considered suspect in the popular culture of the netherlands at the time. the prostitute in the foreground has already been mentioned: in a provocative gesture she holds a filled glass between the legs of the man of the house, while he dismisses with a grin the admonishment of the nun standing on the right. the duck on the shoulder of the man next to her identifies him as a quaker, who urges the reading of pious texts. finally, the pig in the doorway to the kitchen is an allusion to another proverb: neither cast ye your pearls before swine. hanging above the heads of these sinners are the symbols of the penalty to be expected for unbridled, lustful behaviour: a sword and a crutch in a basket suspended from the ceiling. luxuria extravagance. an interesting biographic detail: at times steen had to earn a living by running an inn and a brewery. hyperrealistic, 80mm.