1600s Women reading & writing letters - no email, no texting...

Gerard Terborch (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1617-1681) Woman Writing a Letter 1655 detail

Communicating was not that easy in the 17th century. Writers would pour out their hearts in a letter; hope to keep secret plans & tender emotions private; hand the letter over to a hopefully trustworthy messenger for dispatch; & attempt to wait patiently for a reply.


Gerard Terborch (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1617-1681) The Letter 1655 detail


Gerard Terborch (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1617-1681) Curiosity detail 


Gerard Terborch (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1617-1681) Messenger with Letter


Gerard Terborch (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1617-1681) Lady Reading a Letter


Gerard Terborch (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1617-1681) The Message


Gerard Terborch (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1617-1681) A Lady Reading a Letter. c 1662 detail


Gerard Terborch (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1617-1681) Woman Reading a Letter detail


Gerard Terborch (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1617-1681) Young Woman in Peasant Costume After Reading a Letter


Gabriel Metsu (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1629-1667) Lady Writing at Her Desk

Gabriel Metsu (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1629-1667) Woman Reading a Letter 1664-66

Gabriel Metsu (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1629-1667) Woman Surprised While Writing a Letter


Johannes Vermeer (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1632-1675) A Lady Writing c 1665


Johannes Vermeer (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1632-1675) Mistress Writing and Maid


Johannes Vermeer (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1632-1675) Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window 1657 detail


Johannes Vermeer (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1632-1675) Woman in Blue Reading a Letter 1657

Johannes Vermeer (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1632-1675) Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid c.1670 detail

Frans Van Mieris the Elder (Dutch painter, 1635-1681) Woman Writing a Letter 1680 detail

Unknown 1600s Lady in Green

Unknown artist from the English School, Lady in a Green Dress 1635-45

Intriguing still lifes by Jan van Kessel (Flemish painter, 1626-1679)

Jan van Kessel the Elder (Flemish painter, 1626-1679) A Cockchafer Beetle, and Woodlice --other Insects, with a Sprig of Auricula, c. 1650s

Jan van Kessel the Elder (Flemish painter, 1626-1679) Insects

Jan van Kessel the Elder (Flemish painter, 1626-1679) and Fruit Insects, c. 1656-1679

1600s Merry Company Indoors

1614 Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech (Dutch Golden Age artist, 1592–1624) Merry Company

1615 Adam Willaerts (Dutch artist, 1577-1664) Merry Company

1615 Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech (Dutch Golden Age artist, 1592–1624) Froliche Gesellschaft

1616 Frans Hals (Dutch artist, 1583–1666) Merry Makers at Mardi Gras

1616 Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech (Dutch Golden Age artist, 1592–1624) Merry Company

c 1615 Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech (Dutch Golden Age artist, 1592–1624) Merry Company

Dirck Hals (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) Celebration

Dirck Hals (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) An Elegant group playing music Detail

Dirck Hals (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) Merry Company at the Table

Dirck Hals (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) The Happy Company

Dirck Hals (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) The Party Table

About an Inauguration - Lincoln's as seen by Whitman

Specimen Days (The Inauguration)    Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

March 4th.--The President very quietly rode down to the Capitol in his own carriage, by himself, on a sharp trot, about noon, either because he wish'd to be on hand to sign bills, or to get rid of marching in line with the absurd procession, the muslin temple of liberty and pasteboard monitor. I saw him on his return, at three o'clock, after the performance was over. He was in his plain two-horse barouche, and look'd very much worn and tired; the lines, indeed, of vast responsibilities, intricate questions, and demands of life and death, cut deeper than ever upon his dark brown face; yet all the old goodness, tenderness, sadness, and canny shrewdness, underneath the furrows. (I never see that man without feeling that he is one to become personally attach'd to, for his combination of purest, heartiest tenderness, and native Western form of manliness.) By his side sat his little boy, of ten years. There were no soldiers, only a lot of civilians on horseback, with huge yellow scarfs over their shoulders, riding around the carriage. (At the inauguration four years ago, he rode down and back again surrounded by a dense mass of arm'd cavalrymen eight deep, with drawn sabres; and there were sharpshooters station'd at every corner on the route.) I ought to make mention of the closing levee of Saturday night last. Never before was such a compact jam in front of the White House--all the grounds fill'd, and away out to the spacious sidewalks. I was there, as I took a notion to go--was in the rush inside with the crowd--surged along the passage-ways, the blue and other rooms, and through the great east room. Crowds of country people, some very funny. Fine music from the Marine Band, off in a side place. I saw Mr. Lincoln, drest all in black, with white kid gloves and a claw-hammer coat, receiving, as in duty bound, shaking hands, looking very disconsolate, and as if he would give anything to be somewhere else.

Walt Whitman 1887

Whitman struggled to support himself through most of his life. While in Washington, he lived on a clerk's salary and modest royalties, and spent any excess money, including gifts from friends, to buy supplies for the wounded soldiers he nursed during the Civil War.

Photos-1840s-1850s-Nearly Arcane Trades

One of the most enlightening inventions of the 19th century was photography. This inexpensive method of making portraits allowed us to see all levels of people in society, rather than just the wealthy who could afford to have paintings of their families.

Locksmith


Blacksmith


Furniture Maker


Surveyor


Coachman


Cooper


Stonemason


Watchmaker


Carpenters


Butcher


Blacksmith


Butcher


Chimneysweep


Miners

Peddlar

Railroad Designer


Scene Painter


Shoemaker

Sign Painter


Teamsters


Toleware Painter

Blacksmith

Butcher

Carpenter holding a mallet and chisel

Carriage Driver with buggy whip

Cook

Daguerreotypist

Fisherman

Indiana Survey Crew

Merchant marine sailor

Miner with pick and shovel

Mule Train Driver with his whip

Musician

Plasterers 1850

Scientist or Pharmacist

Shoe model maker

Watchmaker