![View of Haarlem with Bleaching Fields, by Jacob van Ruisdael, c. 1670/1675.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-bleichen-von-haarlem-von-jacob-van-ruisdael-kunsthaus-300x225.jpg)
How the linen trade brought wealth to Europe
Linen production and trading was once the livelihood of many people in Europe, especially in eastern Switzerland. A famous landscape painting from the Netherlands in Kunsthaus Zürich tells a tale of global trade routes and mutual dependence.
![View of Haarlem with Bleaching Fields, by Jacob van Ruisdael, c. 1670/1675.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-bleichen-von-haarlem-von-jacob-van-ruisdael-um-1670-1675-komplett-268x300.jpg)
![Dutch merchant ships at anchor, Willem van de Velde the Younger, 1658.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/hollandische-handelsschiffe-vor-anker-300x258.jpg)
![Linen strips laid out to bleach in front of St. Gallen city for display in 1545.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/zum-bleichen-ausgelegte-leinwandbahnen-vor-der-stadt-st-gallen-in-einer-darstellung-von-1545-300x241.jpg)
![St. Gallen linen merchant Claus Gugger standing proudly by his merchandise rated G for “good”.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/claus-gugger-201x300.jpg)
![Painting of the linen finishing process from the mid-17th century.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/leinwandzyklus-300x165.jpg)
![A bleacher at work. He is using a “Güte”, a special type of shovel to spread the water from the ditch up to several metres over the textiles. Caspar Luyken, after Jan Luyken, 1694.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/bleicher-bei-der-arbeit-278x300.jpg)
![With the city in the background, you can see twelve representatives of professions involved in the linen trade – from the salesman at the top to the cellarman responsible for producing the barrels to transport the material.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/zwolf-vertreter-von-berufsleuten-die-im-leinwandgewerbe-tatig-waren-300x124.jpg)
![Workers destroy a weaving loom in protest, 1812.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/aus-protest-zerstoren-arbeiter-einen-webstuhl-300x261.jpg)
![Workers in the bleaching fields are in miniature in Jacob van Ruisdael’s painting.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/arbeitenden-menschen-in-den-bleichen-300x176.jpg)
![Bleaching on the Lawn, Max Liebermann, 1882.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-rasenbleiche-300x186.jpg)