Portrait of Bernardina Margriet van Raesfelt, also known as 'The Chicken Yard'

Jan Steen's 1660 portrait of Bernardina Margriet van Raesfelt, known as 'The Chicken Yard', is an unusual hybrid of formal portraiture and genre scene. Steen, celebrated chiefly for his boisterous scenes of domestic disorder, here depicted a specific individual within a barnyard setting populated with chickens and domestic animals — a combination that may carry satirical, allegorical, or simply playful overtones typical of his art. The painting illustrates the flexibility of portraiture in the Dutch Golden Age, where sitters might be placed in emblematic settings that comment on their character or status. Van Raesfelt's identity suggests a connection to the Overijssel gentry.

The figure of the sitter is placed in a three-quarter format within the yard, surrounded by freely painted chickens and barnyard detail. Steen's brushwork in the animals and ground is looser and more spontaneous than in the carefully finished face and costume, creating a vivid contrast of handling.