Playing, Learning and Working in Amsterdam's Golden Age:
Jan Luyken's Mirrors of Daily Life

September 21 - December 5, 2004, Emily Lowe Gallery

Playing, Learning, Working in Amsterdam's Golden Age: Jan Luyken's Mirrors of Daily Life features more than 110 prints and drawings from Dutch author and illustrator Jan Luyken ((1649-1712) on loan from the Amsterdams Historisch Museum in The Netherlands. The pen and ink drawings and prints come from four different "emblem" books by Jan Luyken. The images trace the human cycle from birth to death, with special attention paid to childhood, schooling, the world of daily occupations in Amsterdam's artisanal workshops, butcher shops, bakeries, industries and shipyards, life at home and customs surrounding death and dying.

Guest curator Dr. Donna R. Barnes wrote, "Luyken's graphic works transport us back in time, providing intimate glimpses into the world known by Dutch colonists who came to Nieuw Netherland in the 1600's. The daily life depicted by Jan Luyken was very familiar to those who settled on Lang Eylant (Long Island) and other communities."