In 1648 Jan Steen and Gabriël Metsu founded the painters' Guild of Saint Luke at Leiden. Soon after he became an assistant to the renowned landscape painter Jan van Goyen (1596–1656), and moved into his house on the Bierkade in The Hague. On Oct 3, 1649 he married van Goyen's daughter Margriet, with whom he would have eight children. Steen worked with his father-in-law until 1654, when he moved to Delft, where he ran the brewery "De Slang" ("The Snake") for three years without much success. After the explosion in Delft in 1654 the art market was depressed, but Steen painted "A Burgomaster of Delft and his daughter". It does not seem to be clear if this painting should be called a portrait or a genre work.