Bedsteads
formed an integral part of the construction of the timbered interior
of each house and were thus not mentioned separately as movable goods
in the interior. Mattresses, curtains and bedsheets were a major
household investment. See blankets.
Bedsteads
formed an integral part of the construction of the timbered interior
of each house and were thus not mentioned separately as movable goods
in the interior. Mattresses, curtains and bedsheets were a major
household investment. See blankets.
People usualy slept half sitting up because it was thought that if one slept flat, that all blood would go to the brain and kill the sleeper. In the lower part of the bedstad there could be one or more large wooden pull-out drawers, each intended as a bed for a child. In Dutch this is known as the 'ondergeschoven kind'.
To the right, curtains from a bedstead from the Oortman dolls house, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
The green curtains were already mentioned in the 1623 inventory of moveable goods "sold" by Reynier Jansz (Vermeer's father), to Balthasar Gerrits (the father of Digna Baltens, Vermeer's mother).
The bed was a theatre for both sleep, love and death. See a text on death and burial.
Note: Photo Copyright Rijksmuseum Foundation. The Rijksmuseum has graciously assisted in this project Digital Home of Johannes Vermeer. The author was given permission to make a selection in the vast photo archive and this material has been made available by the Rijksmuseum.
This object was part of the Vermeer-inventory as listed by the clerk working for Delft notary public J. van Veen. He made this list on February 29, 1676, in the Thins/Vermeer home located on Oude Langendijk on the corner of Molenpoort. The painter Johannes Vermeer had died there at the end of December 1675. His widow Catherina and their eleven children still lived there with her mother Maria Thins.
The transcription of the 1676 inventory, now in the Delft archives, is based upon its first full publication by A.J.J.M. van Peer, "Drie collecties...", Oud Holland, 1957, pp. 98-103.
This page forms part of a large encyclopedic site on Vermeer and Delft. Research by Drs. Kees Kaldenbach (email). A full presentation is on view at johannesvermeer.info.
Launched December, 2002; Last update March 2, 2017.
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