The Dutch Republic was one of Europe’s leading dairy producers, owing to its pastures and drained polders. Grazing herds yielded vast quantities of milk, butter, and cheese, which were exported across the continent and consumed at nearly every meal. Foreign travelers marveled at the abundance, and the Dutch earned the nickname “butterboxes” abroad.
Adriaen van de Venne (1589–1662), Farcical Peasant Brawl, 1623, Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum.
The works on paper on display in this tightly focused collection gallery installation reflect how central dairy was to daily life. Paulus Potter created portraits of cows, rendered with individual sympathy. Nicolaes Berchem captured the timeless rhythm of a milkmaid at work, while Adriaen van de Venne positioned a man in a butter churn at the center of a farcical peasant brawl. Abraham Delfos, Jan van de Velde, and Lucas van Leyden illustrate a world shaped by dairy: a child eating pap (a mixture of milk and cereal), cows ferried to fresh pastures or markets, and the depiction of farm life as both lived reality and cultural pride.
Organized by Susanne Bartels, Stanley H. Durwood Foundation Curatorial Fellow, Division of European and American Art, Harvard Art Museums. On display in the Dutch and Flemish Art gallery, located on Level 2.
Gallery Talks
Susanne Bartels will lead 30-minute talks about Got Milk? on the following dates: