Book Description

The vivid illustrations of famed Dutch artist and naturalist Rien Poortvliet are admired all over the world. His warm and imaginative portrayals and stories of people, animals, or such fantastic creatures as gnomes are loved by readers of all generations. His countless fans will be enchanted by this intriguing new book, Daily Life in Holland in the Year 1566, And the Story of My Ancestor's Treasure Chest. To create this latest gem, Poortvliet found inspiration in the rich legacy of Dutch landscape and genre painting traditions and in his own Dutch heritage as well. He became intrigued by a document dating from the year 1566 that revealed the existence of an armoire owned by his distant ancestor, Jacob Jansz Poortvliet. That armoire led Rien Poortvliet to come upon something valuable indeed - a treasure trove of insights into the world of his ancestor. Characteristically evocative, the words and images in Daily Life in Holland are rich in detail and delicate in coloration, and perhaps the most beautiful of any of Poortvliet's works to date. In this fascinating saga, he recreates the lives of his forebears as they toiled and celebrated their way through daily existence. He does not conjure up a romantic vision of the past - the Dutch countryside was not all tulips and windmills! There were adversity and hard work, and we learn that 1566 was an extraordinary year in Holland, marked by famine and plague, great freezes, floods and droughts, comets and earthquakes, and an invasion by the Spanish as well. Poortvliet's colorful account unfolds before us to reveal how ordinary men, women, and children lived: what kinds of clothes they wore, what their houses were like, what they are and how theycooked. How did they celebrate Christmas? What did the people do for a living and what kind of money did they have? What did a girl's engagement ring look like? How many different kinds of swords and firearms did they have? Exploring his own roots, Poortvliet captures the beauty of everyday life and livelihood in turbulent sixteenth-century Holland. Rien Poortvliet is recognized as the greatest living Dutch artist. He first won acclaim in this country when Abram's Gnomes and Secrets of the Gnomes (text by Wil Huygen) became best-sellers. His other Abrams books - Dutch Treat, The Living Forest, The Farm Book, Dogs, The Book of the Sandman, In My Grandfather's House, and Noah's Ark - have also won a devoted following. His works are popular as well in Australian, Canadian, Danish, German, Finnish, French, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, and Yugoslavian editions.