De lente 1670 - 1724

Jacob Gole created this print, titled "Spring," around the late 17th century. The central figure, a woman adorned in elaborate dress, carries a basket overflowing with flowers, a symbol of fertility and renewal deeply embedded in the collective psyche. The motif of a woman bearing flowers is ancient, echoing images of Flora, the Roman goddess of spring, celebrated in festivals of rebirth. This echoes in Botticelli's "Primavera," where Flora scatters blossoms, a visual echo across time. Yet, here, the woman's controlled pose and opulent attire suggest a different interpretation: spring not as a wild, untamed force, but as a season of cultivated beauty and aristocratic pleasure. The image, like a recurring dream, reflects our enduring fascination with nature's cycles. The woman, poised between tradition and artifice, embodies the complex dance between nature and culture that defines our understanding of spring.