Mauritshuis rediscovers Jan Steen painting 'As if it's fresh from Jan Steen's studio'

The Mocking of Samson, a painting in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), has been reattributed to Jan Steen. After extensive research, specialists from the Mauritshuis have concluded that the painting — long thought to have been an eighteenth-century copy after Jan Steen – is by the master himself. Its style of painting, technique and subject matter are entirely in keeping with Steen’s oeuvre. The painting has undergone technical examination at the Mauritshuis in collaboration with Shell and conservation treatment by conservators from the museum. The newly restored and rediscovered Steen from Antwerp will feature as one of the highlights of the upcoming exhibition Jan Steen’s Histories, on at the Mauritshuis from 15 February. Emilie Gordenker, director of the Mauritshuis: ‘During the process of selecting the loans for the Jan Steen’s Histories exhibition, our curator Ari