Wool Making, by Pieter de Molijn, 1651
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Wool Making

Also titled De wolfabricage

Pieter de Molijn (London, 1595–1661)

1651

Medium
canvas, oil paint (paint)
Classification
painting
Dimensions
depth 4.5 cm
Museum
Rijksmuseum
Credit line
On loan from the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Amersfoort
Rights
Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed

View at the Rijksmuseum

About this work

Processing wool in Spain by Pieter de Molijn, 1651. Here, workers are busy processing raw wool, probably in northern Spain. In the foreground the wool is being washed. In the centre the wool is dried and packed in bails. The Spanish wool trade was dominated by Dutch merchants, especially after the peace between Spain and the Republic in 1648. This was where they bought the raw material for the fine cloth known as laken. Both Leiden and Haarlem were major production centres for this fabric. On loan from Instituut Collectie Nederland, Amsterdam.