Introduction
What is the flavor of change? Sometimes sweet, often bitter, always complex.
In a time of great upheaval, three cultures tasted change in their encounters in this region. From the late 1600s through the 1700s, the food traditions of the Indigenous Esopus people met with those of Europeans colonizing the land and Africans they transported here under the coercion of enslavement. These interactions permanently transformed the landscape and the people who called it home.
Interior Scene
Dutch School, 19th century
Oil on panel
HHS Permanent Collection, Anne C. Bienstock Collection
Interior scenes with ordinary people performing everyday tasks were a popular theme in Dutch genre painting. This particular painting shows two women in a large room featuring a stone fireplace, box bed in the distance, and various domestic items, such as a spinning wheel, copper pot, ceramic vessels, and a few pewter items.