After Milking Time 1825 - 1827

Hendrick van der Burch created this intimate interior scene, After Milking Time, in the Dutch Republic. It's a domestic scene, but it hints at wider social and economic structures of the time. Images like these are important social documents. We see a woman and a man, likely servants, engaged in the daily work of a well-to-do household. The gleaming copper jugs and fresh vegetables around them point to the prosperity of the Dutch Golden Age. But this prosperity relied on the labor of ordinary people. Paintings of daily life became popular as the Dutch middle class grew and asserted its own values. These paintings were displayed in private homes, reflecting a new sense of national identity and cultural pride. By studying the clothing, objects, and architecture in the painting, we can learn more about the lives of people in 17th-century Netherlands. To understand this painting fully, we can consult archival records, period literature, and material culture studies, all of which helps us to place this work within its historical context.