Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons, public domain, and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Hi res Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Quiringh_van_Brekelenkam_-_Tailor%27s_Workshop.jpg
Artist: Quirijn Gerritsz. van Brekelenkam (Zwammerdam 1622- Leiden 1668)
Rijksmuseum summary: A woman runs errands with a market bucket on her arm. Inside the tailor’s workshop, she deliberates over a coat. The tailors are seated on a raised platform to make the most of the daylight. A hank of thread hangs at the ready above the table. Hanging on the wall is a river landscape, dispelling the notion that only affluent individuals could afford to have paintings in their homes in the 17th century.
Description: In New Amsterdam, a quickly growing and changing community, the demand for skilled tailors was high. There also was a need for wool and cotton textiles that had to be imported from the Netherlands, especially Leiden. Unlike in “patria,” there were no official “tailor guilds” that followed established quality standards and had apprenticeships, as this paining shows. Also in New Netherland tailors (“kleermakers” in Dutch) would have been male artisans, who by tradition specialized in clothing for men, only rarely for women. Garments for daily life and more fancy attire for the wealthy. Women did much spinning, weaving and sewing at home making their own and their children’s clothes.
Rijksmuseum Reference:
Object number: SK-C-112
Dimensions: height 66 cm x width 53.5 cm
Medium: oil on canvas