“Housefather” literature [Hausväterliteratur] reached its peaked in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. This engraving comes from a work in this genre. The authors of "housefather literature" were usually Protestant ministers who used the medium to give advice on running a household, agricultural techniques, family life, and treating disease. Often called “Oeconomica,” these works also included recipes, which is why they have also come to be known as the precursors of the modern cookbook.
Source: Copperplate engraving by an unknown artist published in the
1750 edition of Franz Philipp Florinus,
Oeconomus prudens et legalis. Oder Der
kluge und rechtsverständige Haus-Vater
[Oeconomus prudens et legalis. Or the
Generally Prudent and Judicious Housemaster].
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