Painting (Portrait)

Description

Many women of the Dutch patroon families of New York engaged directly in the expansive trading networks of the West India Company, whose vast reach stretched between Dutch ports in Europe and in the Americas, including England’s colonial holdings in Virginia and the Caribbean. The sitter’s silk dress, pearls, ivory stick fan and Turkish Medallion Ushak rug draped over the table demonstrate the aesthetics of power and gentility among Dutch merchants. Dutch patroon women’s engagement in various mercantile activities proved integral to the success of the Dutch Republic, though this wealth was predicated upon the capture and use of African chattel slavery by traders and merchants of the Dutch empire.