“Taste of Control”: The History of Dutch Bread and Colonialism

Leiden Baker Arent Oostwaard and his Wife, Catharina Keizerswaard. By Jan Havicksz Steen, 1658. .

During my visit to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 2014, I was deeply struck by Jan Havicksz Steen’s painting “Baker’s Couple”. On the back of the painting it was written:

“This is Family piece…, (The Baker) is the portrait of Arend Ooswaa(rd). The woman…Catharina Keijsersward. The Boy is done after a boy of Jan Steen. This Baker and his wife have lived on the Rhine 3 or 4 hous(es) from the Vrouwebrugge (“woman’s bridge), between the Vrouwesteegh (“woman’s alley”) and g(asthuys) (“charitable home”) in Leiden. Now, in January 17(38), this has been painted over 79 years ago.

This excerpt suggests that the painting remained in the possession of the couple’s descendants, with one of them documenting its details. The author also posits the plausible date of c.1658 for the pictures. Wasterman notes that between 1655 and 1665, Steen painted eight portraits of respectable middle-class individuals, spanning from the elite to the artisanal. One of these paintings is titled “Baker Arent Oostwaard and His Wife Catharina Keizerswaard” (Wastermann, 1997).

The painting carefully depicts a still life of bread, highlighting the wide variety of breads in the Netherlands in terms of shape, size, weight, filling, and decoration. This reflects the significant role of bread in daily Dutch meals and its…