Dutch Art Nouveau advertising poster – Stadler & Sauerbier, ca. 1910

“Adrianus van den Eelaart. Distilleerderij 1^e Klasse – Likeurstokerij ‘De Vrijheid’ Schiedam“.  [Adrianus van den Eelaart. First-Class Distillery – Liqueur Distillery ‘De Vrijheid’, Schiedam.] Colour lithograph made by Stadler & Sauerbier in Rotterdam, ca. 1910. Size: 61 x 36 cm.

Around 1700, herring fishing in the town of Schiedam was definitively replaced by the malt wine industry. At its peak in 1883, some 3,500 Schiedam residents depended on this trade.

Between 1890 and 1910, the jenever industry gradually declined due to competition from modern yeast and industrial alcohol factories. The sector stagnated. At the distillery of Adrianus van den Eelaart, founded in 1687, nothing of that decline is yet visible in this Art Nouveau poster. “De Vrijheid” (“The Freedom”) likely refers to the windmill Van den Eelaart used to grind the grain for his jenever.

The company was located in Schiedam on the south side of the Korte Haven, at number 29, visible in the cityscape at the foot of the mill “De Vrijheid.” (In 1960, Distillery Van den Eelaart merged with the Schiedamsche Alcoholfabriek.)

Price: Euro 650,-