The Bible Lesson

Although this work was painted in England towards the end of the 19th century, Alma-Tadema fabricates an intimate glimpse of a well-appointed 17th-century Dutch home. A young girl recounts biblical narratives illustrated on Delft tiles (a type of tin-glazed earthenware meant to imitate the appearance of hard-paste porcelain imported from China and Japan). In the background, the abandoned knitting needles draw a connection between women, craft, and the domestic sphere. The other decorative arts demonstrate an early-modern fascination with imported luxury objects. While the rich details are masterfully rendered, this artwork romanticizes harmful rhetoric about the Dutch Gouden Eeuw (Golden Age), a period in which the Republic had a stronghold on the international trade of luxury goods, costly consumables, and enslaved people.