In Luxury, Beware (detail)

It is true that the depiction contains scores of references to the "dissolute household", a motif that Steen embroidered on countless paintings, yet quite correctly the picture once was called a proverb painting. In this detail, the seemingly pious couple must have a meaning of its own given the duck on the man's shoulder. He can be identified as a "quacker", or a Quaker, a zealous Mennonite. The woman may be a begijn, a Catholic woman who had taken a vow of chastity, but was not part of a monastic order: begijnen or sanctimonious hypocrites were also considered zealots. While the role of these two figures is clear, they have yet to be linked to a fitting aphorism.