Children Teaching a Cat to Dance, Known as ‘The Dancing Lesson’ 1660
by Jan Havicksz. Steen
These children are up to mischief: they are teaching a cat to dance to the music of a shawm, a 17th-century
wind instrument. While they are clearly enjoying them-selves, the cat screeches in protest, joined by a barking dog. The old man at the window angrily rebukes the children: should they not be learning something
rather than giving dancing lessons to a cat?
- Credit:
- Courtesy of Rijksmuseum
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