The Old Lacemaker

Pictures inspired by daily life, or genre scenes, were extremely popular in the seventeenth century. Writers and moralists praised domestic activities, believing that such labors kept women from idleness. The home was the married woman’s domain, and a well-ordered household reflected a wife’s virtue. Thus the lacemaker’s kitchen — with its neatly gathered twigs, gleaming earthenware, and stacked kindling placed carefully on the table — suggests she is an exemplar of virtuous female conduct.