20 mar 1602 año - Dutch East India Company Founded

Descripción:

Still Life With Moor and Porcelain Vessels (van Streek, 1670-80)

The Dutch East India Company was the first of its kind, a truly transnational company, the first publicly held joint stock company, an international arm of the Dutch Republic. It was the first step in a colonialism through trade that would become the default for Western powers and continues to be. The Dutch still life tradition was a reflection of this increased wealth and material luxury that came from trade. Of course this was a tradition that predated the VOC, but with the VOC came exotic goods, more expensive but whose ownership signified greater wealth and thus higher social status. This painting shows foreign luxuries par excellence, chinaware, lemons and oranges. With exotic goods came the labor of slaves that was essential in producing them; of course, as this painting- a still life- shows the slaves were themselves material goods in the eyes of the society in which this work was produced. This painting is thus an apt reflection of the era that witnessed one of the foundational steps towards modern capitalism.

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