AMSTERDAM.- The highlight of the Old Master Paintings sale at Sotheby’s Amsterdam on Tuesday, 10th May, 2011 is A school class with a sleeping schoolmaster by Dutch Golden Age Artist Jan Steen (1626-1979). This painting may be regarded as one of Jan Steen’s finest treatments of a schoolroom interior. Furthermore, it is thus far his only known representation of a schoolroom that is both signed and dated and which has remained in private hands. The work has a remarkable provenance, going back as far as 1764, including the distinguished Baring Collection in the 19th Century. This exciting picture, dated 1672, perfectly demonstrates Steen’s mastery at depicting the humorous side of everyday life, which remains as true to life and as successful in capturing our attention today as it was to his viewers in the 17th Century. A school