From left to right: Titia Bergsma (1786-1821), her small son Johannes (1816-1900) and Petronella Munts, the nurse who had to care for the child. In 1817, a Dutch vessel with a special party on board arrived in Nagasaki. Though this was strictly forbidden, Jan Cock Blomhoff, the new supreme headman or ‘Opperhoofd’ of the Deshima trading post, had taken along his wife Titia and their small son Johannes. The Dutch tried to persuade the Japanese authorities to let them stay, but Titia and the child ultimately had to leave. In the meantime, various Japanese artists, among whom Kawahara Keiga, portrayed Titia. They were then to be copied by many other artists. Titia was elevated to icon of ‘the Dutch woman’.
1817<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1817-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
This digital media file - and/or the physical objects depicted on it - originates from the digital and/or physical collections of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.kb.nl/">Koninklijke Bibliotheek</a>, national library of the Netherlands.