Criadas - History Lab https://historylab.es Fri, 20 May 2022 07:41:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://historylab.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-icono-historylab-32x32.jpg Criadas - History Lab https://historylab.es 32 32 The spinners https://historylab.es/the-spinners/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-spinners Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/las-hilanderas/ Velázquez's work shows an interior of women working in textiles, emphasising their profession through the fable of Arachne

The post The spinners first appeared on History Lab.

]]> Velázquez’s work depicts a craft workshop made up of women. In the foreground are the spinners, women of the village who occupy the most important place in the representation, where three generations are shown participating in the work of spinning and reeling the wool. Their bodies convey activity and liveliness as they cooperate in a manual task. In the background are three upper-class women, one of whom focuses her gaze on the mechanical workers. In the 17th century, spinning wheels and spinning were poorly paid jobs that supplied the needs of the weavers’ guilds. Although Velázquez depicts the interior of a possible tapestry factory, the spinning work did not take place inside the factory, but in the house-workshops. At that time, the ordinances of 1561 prohibited women from joining the guild (historiographically increasingly disputed), although their presence in the workshops continued. The master’s wife took over the spinning and was assisted by other women from the age of 12, as they were considered servants since they were denied the status of apprentices.

The post The spinners first appeared on History Lab.

]]> The mulatto https://historylab.es/the-mulatto/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-mulatto Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:14 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/la-mulata/ Velázquez's depiction of domestic service in 17th-century Spain

The post The mulatto first appeared on History Lab.

]]> The scene takes place inside a Sevillian house in the early decades of the 17th century and depicts a mulatto maid with various kitchen utensils that reflect the way in which domestic spaces were set up. It should be remembered that at that time only wealthy families were allowed to have a maid. In the portrait, the maid is depicted wearing a loose-fitting dress that bears little relation to the fashions of the day, as well as a coarse, coarse fabric that reveals a lower social status than that of her masters. Various utensils such as jugs, bowls and a mortar and pestle for pounding garlic are arranged on the table, a fact that underlines the type of basic foodstuffs used in 17th-century Sevillian households.

The post The mulatto first appeared on History Lab.

]]>