Children Teaching a Cat to Dance, Known as ‘The Dancing Lesson’, Jan Havicksz. Steen, 1660 - 1679
oil on panel, h 68.5cm × w 59cm More details
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?
