The burgher of Delft

Who was The burgomaster of Delft in Jan Steen's famous painting? Was he really the burgomaster or just a burgher of Delft? Who is the girl beside him? Where exactly did they live? And what is their connection with the shabbily-dressed woman and the little boy in the street? For more than a century art lovers, historians and art historians have been searching for answers to these questions.Art historian Frans Grijzenhout and historian Niek van Sas take the reader on a fascinating quest from 1650s Delft, the city of brewers and painters, to an aristocratic collection in 18th-century Paris. From there the trail leads back to the small town of Hoorn in Holland and on to the extravagant 19th-century Penrhyn Castle in Wales. There the painting hung for 150 years - until 2004, when it was bought by the Rijksmuseum for a record sum as a highlight of the Golden Age of Dutch painting with an intriguing historical dimension.And finally they solve the riddle of the identity of The burgher of Delft and his 13-year-old daughter, and reveal fascinating biographical information that sheds new light on Jan Steen's painting.