Juffrouw Braet-Haringh ("Mistress Grilled Herring") 1617

Curator: We’re looking at Jan Philipsz. van Bouckhorst’s “Juffrouw Braet-Haringh,” or “Mistress Grilled Herring,” a small drawing held at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: Instantly, I get a sense of…resilience. There's a weathered strength in her profile, wouldn't you say? Curator: Indeed. Consider the subject, likely a working-class woman in the Dutch Republic. The directness of the drawing, the artist's choice to depict her not as an idealized figure but as an individual engaged in commerce, challenges traditional portraiture. Editor: And the name! "Grilled Herring"...it's humorous, isn't it? Almost affectionate. Like the artist knew her, respected her craft. I wonder what her story was, beyond the fish. Curator: Perhaps her story lies in the broader context of the Dutch Golden Age, a period of unprecedented economic growth fueled by trade and labor—a story of materiality and consumption embodied by this woman and her grilled herring. Editor: Maybe. Or maybe it's a story whispered in the lines of her face, the slant of her eye, a life measured not in guilders but in sunrises and tides. Either way, it's a face I won't soon forget.