The question was whether the famous Broek in Waterland samplers, typically created by girls around the ages of 10-11, were their only needlework. Was there more? As suspected, there was! The later work likely involved whitework, a fashionable technique to practice at the time. These pieces are rare, often undated, and rarely signed, leaving us puzzled. They were often mistakenly attributed to the isle of Marken until the whitework sampler by Immetje provided evidence of what

Door mijn gedaan ; Done by me … Over the course of a century, approximately 140 girls from Middelburg were educated by over twenty teachers. Maria Letellier was the most prolific and likely the most influential teacher, with her name appearing 23 times on samplers from the 1750s to the 1770s. She was followed by teachers Tannetje Wackeroet, whose name appeared 18 times, and Adriana de Vroe, with 15 appearances. Updated October 2025 Year- Teacher

The Middelburg darning sampler of Petronella de Timmerman was brought to my attention by Mrs Josefien Sjoerds who saw it at a small...

It might be too early for Holy Thursday, but this image of the Last Supper I simply wanted to share with you now. It is an rather unique...

Look at this: one of the oldest dated Dutch samplers around! The sampler was finished by Maertghin Cornelis in 1638. Only a handful of Dutch samplers are dated earlier than this one. The sampler is part of one of the most important groups of Dutch samplers: the Broek-samplers or Broekdoeken. The sampler has not (yet) a tower or church, neither a pious verse, but otherwise it has the distinctive crosses, bands and other patterns. The large cross with peacocks in each end must

Finally, after more than a decade we can add a previously unknown piece to the Broek in Waterland group of samplers. The samplers coming...

This fine Dutch darning sampler was hiding some interesting history. It was made by Catharina van Erven in 1831, a shoemakers daughter....