The picture probably goes unnoticed by almost everyone who traipses past it on their way to the ‘Night Watch’, but it points to an important fact about the Golden Age that is rarely acknowledged: the Rijksmuseum’s treasures, together with Amsterdam’s beautiful canals and townhouses, were paid for in part with the blood and sweat of those who were unfortunate enough to live under Dutch rule overseas. Walking around tolerant, easy-going Amsterdam, most visitors remain unaware of a national dirty secret: the Netherlands was one of the world’s leading slave-trading nations.
