The marriage of Tobias and Sarah was a painting done by Jan Steen in 1673. The piece of art was done using oil, painted on a canvas material. Jan Steen, who lived between 1626 and 1679, also named the work The Marriage Contract. According to Nash, Orr and Stewart (84), the theme of the picture is drawn from the book of Tobit 3:7-17 in the Old Testament. It was done based on the status of marriage during that time. The picture shows a priest instituting a wedding. The two lovers are sitting by either side of the president, ready to sign the marriage contract forms; that is probably a short time after exchanging vows. There are also other witnesses, as the setting proves the more to be in a religious place of worship. Tobias marries Sara as her parents watch the signing of the marriage contract, as visitors take to the party. It is Sara’s seventh marriage due to possession by a demon. However, Raphael the Archangel casts out the devil (Nash, Orr and Stewart 84). The piece of art represented the kind of life present in the Netherlands during the Seventeenth Century. He aimed at exposing the knowledge he had about his surroundings. There are two main reasons that led Jan Steen to paint the painting. Firstly, Steen spent much of his life in Leiden since he belonged to the Rhetoricians. Secondly, he wanted to expose the positive aspect of the community he belonged to. He achieved this by redesigning some of the previous paintings and adding a positive aspect to them. For instance, the Rhetoricians at a Window displayed the real life of the Rederijikers (Liedtke 836-839).
In this painting, Steen highlighted some of the transformations that took place in Holland during the 17th Century. The painting was one among the many that gave hope to the residents. He used simple symbols that the residents and readers could interpret during that time. He chose to include a dog and oranges in the setting of the wedding to show that the couple would have a bright future together. These symbols also represented fertility and fidelity. Dogs represented loyalty, while cats represented infidelity in the Dutch culture. Additionally, Sara and Tobias stay away as the woman completes signing the contract. In the upper section, Archangel Raphael is present. The act of the couple staying away from the contract reinstated the holy nature of marriage as a union commissioned by God rather than bound by contracts. Such symbols were easy for the targeted audience to understand.
The painting also showed the role played by women in negotiating dowry price. It was at a time when marriages became commercialized because grooms got extorted for selfish gains. Other artists also produce arts to show how women got actively involved in the payment of bride price. An example is The Marriage Contract by Aert de Gelder (De Balzac and Wormeley). The mother was busy negotiating dowry as the couple and everyone else had fun dancing. Permit to finalize the marriage depends on the satisfaction of the mother. That showed that marriage turned into a commercial activity. In this case, Gelder warns youngsters to watch out lest they get blinded by physical materials when choosing marriage partners. Additionally, French painters such as Abraham Bosse and Jacques-Philipe Le Bas did artistic works that indicated advanced roles of women during payment of dowry. Apart from sitting at the negotiation table, women assumed the roles of a consultant and determined the amount due. These pieces of work remained relevant during the time of production.
The artwork was produced during the seventeenth century. During that period, the Netherlands had diversified its economic, social, cultural, and political settings. Economically, a majority of the population had wealth that sustained them comfortably, mostly from fishing and agriculture. The Agrarian Revolution advanced mechanisms due to the use of mechanized farming techniques. However, some areas struggled in poverty. Such areas sought for the slightest of chances to exploit the other members of the society. Steen drew the picture to condemn such behaviors in the society.
Culturally, pregnancy before marriage was a taboo. Additionally, weddings made a critical part of marriage since Protestants formed the majority of the residents. However, Steen included a pregnant woman as the bride to indicate the moral decay despite the rules and taboos governing sexual relationships. He managed to expose the hypocrisy in the society despite the religious nature of the people. In the political arena, Dutch had an unstable government. It failed to provide relief food to the suffering citizens. That contributed to some of them turning to fraud means such as inflating bride prices to earn more than stipulated. That motivated Steen to do the work as a way of communicating with the government to take charge and responsibility for the well being of its subjects. It is worth noting that Jan Steen produced two versions of his artwork, The Marriage of Tobias and Sarah. He painted the first version in 1667-1668, and the second in 1671-1673. The information addressed earlier in this essay pertains to the 1671-1673 version. The two versions showed notable differences. In the previous version, Steen used different symbols that portrayed message contrary to what the 1673 version contained. The following picture is the first version of the painting. Source: www.mystudios.com
Steen used symbols that targeted exposing and educating the church. In his artwork, he included broken yokes at the setting of the wedding venue. This indicates a prediction of pending doom for the marriage. For one reason or another, Steen thought that the marriage would not last for long. He illustrated that neither of the couples were responsible enough to take charge of the wedding; thus it would collapse any time eventually. Additionally, the use of broken eggs illustrated the breakdown of morals and virtues in the society. Pregnancy of the bride before marriage provided adequate evidence of the moral decay and sexual immorality. This time round, Steen chose to use a cat that seemed to be stealing from the basket under the watch of a smiling child. The cat, child, basket, and theft portrayed different meanings. A cat symbolized infidelity; the child represented the couple; the basket symbolized the marriage; theft was infidelity. As a result, these symbols predicted infidelity in the wedding under the watch of the couple.
The first version contained a message of doom and sadism, while the second provided hope. In the first drawing, Steen exposed the unending immorality, infidelity, and infertility. He also predicted failures in the marriages. In the second version, he threw a lifeline to couples through messages of prosperity, fertility, and fidelity. His works were accepted by historians and philosophers. That was because he addressed critical issues in the political and social sectors in the society. He condemned the political negligence of the government, as well as infidelity and sexual immorality in the society.
The art is similar to other works produced during the Baroque period in many ways. First, Steen brought out the realism in the art. The pictures of the people and items look real. For instance, the illustration of the party in progress shows some people dancing while others are seated. Secondly, it made excellent use of shadow and light. That was characteristic of art produced during that period. Additionally, Steen laid emphasis on the figure through the use of still life and self-portrait. Jan Steen was a re-known Dutch artist. His works depended on the economic, social, religious, and political status of the country. Historians use the drawings to predict how Netherlands was during the particular date of the artwork. As such, his work holds critical cultural and historical value to the Dutch. Additionally, his two versions of The Marriage of Tobias and Sarah indicate the revolution and economic growth in the Netherlands. It also highlights the role of women in marriage contracts. The analysis of the art is based on the works done by Steen. Other authors and critics developed criticisms towards the artworks. Their work is critical to understanding Steen’s work. Works Cited
De Balzac, Honore, and Katharine Prescott Wormeley. The Marriage Contract. Auckland: The Floating Press, 2014. Print.
Liedtke, Walter A. Dutch Paintings In The Metropolitan Museum Of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007. Print.
Nash, Steven A, Lynn Federle Orr, and Marion C Stewart. Masterworks Of European Painting In The California Palace Of The Legion Of Honor. San Francisco, Calif.: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1999. Print.