Jan Daniël Huichelbos van Liender, Petronella van Liender en Adriana Reepmaker in een Engelse ijzergieterij

While wind and water were still the primary sources of energy in the Netherlands, the Rotterdam merchant Huichelbos van Liender visited this English iron foundry to see inventor James Watt’s steam engine in operation. A worker shows him, in the company of his half-sister and a family friend, a piece of iron ore or coal. Van Liender became Watt’s Dutch representative and a driving force behind the introduction of steam power in his homeland.