Children Teaching a Cat to Dance, Known as ‘The Dancing Lesson’

Children Teaching a Cat to Dance or The Dancing Lesson is an oil-on-panel genre painting by Jan Steen, executed c.1660–1679 and now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The painting depicts a group of children attempting to make a cat dance to the music of a shawm. The cat is screeching and the dog barking but the children are having fun. However, the old man at the window clearly disapproves of their behaviour. The work is a typical example of Steen's indoor scenes of everyday Dutch life.