Yale University Press have just released Diane Wolfthal's new publication entitled Household Servants and Slaves, A Visual History, 1300–1700. The scholarly work examines the imagery of ordinary household workers and their material culture in art created by the likes of the Limbourg brothers, Albrecht Dürer, Paolo Veronese, and Diego Velázquez.
The book's front cover is taken from John Riley's extraordinary full-length portrait of the Bridget Holmes (1591-1691), the long-serving servant to the Royal Household and to King James II. This rare portrait of a seventeenth-century servant, depicted particularly playful manner with broom in hand, is preserved in the Royal Collection.
Sotheby's have handled many interesting and rare artworks featuring servants and attendants, including works by Jean-Etienne Liotard, Philip Mercier, Hendrik Pothoven and John Taylor.
