ABSTRACT
Within the Dutch seventeenth-century home were a number of spaces that can be termed liminal in that they represent transitional zones between spaces within the home, or between the home and the outside world. Dutch seventeenth-century painting has long been famed for its depictions of the home which celebrate the value of domesticity within Dutch early modern culture. The emphasis on the home reflects new concerns with family life, intimacy and privacy that began to emerge and strengthen over the course of the seventeenth century. The paintings of Jacob Ochtervelt, which have been the focus of research by Susan Kuretsky, show a particular interest in the threshold motif. The entrance hall paintings of Ochtervelt thus are similar to the calendar pages of the Très Riches Heures in associating boundaries and thresholds with issues of class. Dutch homes typically were on several levels with staircases between them.
