Paard en horzel 1778 - 1785

Noach van der Meer the Younger created this print, "Horse and Gadfly," sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century, using etching. It depicts a man thrown from his startled horse in a wooded area. The image creates meaning through familiar visual codes and cultural references. Animals in art often serve as allegories, and here, the skittish horse may represent human emotions or instincts that are easily disturbed. The Netherlands, where this was made, was a republic at the time, with a powerful merchant class. The political and economic structures may have influenced the way people thought about control, both self-control and control over external forces. Didactic images, such as this one, were common at the time, often offering moral lessons. To truly understand this image, we could research the popular fables or proverbs of the time and consider how prints and printed books circulated within Dutch society. Art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.