‘Dutchmen like light, representative interiors’, according to several Germans in the nineteenth century. They referred to the taste in living of above-average citizens. Evidently, there was a preference for white, sometimes also for bright colours. In the period 1775-1925 more than a thousand Oldenburg plasterers earned a living from the taste of Dutch citizens. The farmer’s son J.B. Logeman (1748-1814) from Oldenburg was the first. In Amsterdam he learned the plasterer’s craft and was quite successful in the Northern Netherlands and Germany. This inspired people from the same regions. What they made, who commissioned them, how they worked and where, varies during three sub-periods between 1775 and 1925. High-quality craftsmanship characterizes Oldenburg stuccowork in the pioneering phase from 1775 to 1825. For instance, Logeman contributed to the spread of neo-classicism in the Northern Netherlands. He obtained his exclusive position because of the demand for stuccowork among the private and public elite, and through exceptional instruments such as exclusive rights and building fraud. The artistic craft was a steppingstone for the niches in the free regional markets during the subsequent period. Between 1825 and 1875 the Oldenburg craftsmen supplied good-quality interiors as well as exterior walls at a good price, chiefly designed according to the current taste. The formula for success in a time of small economic margins – here industrialization had not broken through yet – was the smoothly running cooperation between emigrant and seasonal worker. The emigrant, who often married a Dutch woman, obtained commissions through the local network and organized the stream of seasonal workers from his native region in such a way that the demand for custom-made stuccowork, varying per season, was provided for. In the course of the nineteenth century a lot of ornamental cast stuccowork was applied in the houses of above-average citizens. This had to be cleaned and whitewashed regularly because of the build-up of soot ...