Oude man die een kooltje aanblaast 1657 - 1693

Hendrik Bary made this print of an old man blowing on a small brazier with tongs in the Netherlands, sometime between 1640 and 1707. The image invites us to consider the social conditions that define personal habits. The text below the image references ‘Kooltje wijn’, or mulled wine. It tells us he would rather drink mulled wine than beer. This could be a reflection of the increasing availability of imported wine to Dutch consumers. The old man is wearing a fur cap and looks impoverished. We might ask, what does this image tell us about aging, class, and the material culture of the Dutch Golden Age? What can we learn about social habits from printed images like this? As historians, we can study similar images in books, prints, and ephemera from this time. Through this research, we can start to see the patterns of belief and behavior that define a culture.