Hindenlopen Furniture

There was so much to see in this tiny city. We paused on one of the many bridges to view life on and around the old canals. Besides servicing the steady stream of tourists, the residents carryon their normal daily lives; there are lines of laundry drying outside, yards being swept and windows cleaned.

Inside the museum I was taken with the quality of the hand-made furniture and struck by the importance of the cradle. These were beautiful, practical and ornately painted in the Hindeloopen style. Most were low to the ground on rockers, which could also be placed on a stand during the day. At night the cradle was attached to a line which was hooked to a beam and then down into the bed cupboard. The young mother could rock the baby asleep from the warmth and comfort of the bed.

In this painting we see a well-to-do expectant young mother commissioning an artist to paint scenes on the cradle. An investment was made in a strong crib that would hopefully carry all of her children and perhaps then be handed down for her grandchildren. When Hindeloopen became a fishing village, the local women applied their own skills and brush work to the cradles. 

Through the economic change a style of painting had emerged, and with that, it has placed Hindeloopen into another trade; the tourist trade.