Smaak 1630 - 1654

Curator: Look at "Smaak," an engraving dating roughly from 1630 to 1654. It's currently held at the Rijksmuseum, a piece attributed to an anonymous artist, representing "Taste". What strikes you most immediately about it? Editor: The texture! There’s so much detail etched into this small space. The figure’s gown is really something—I can practically feel the different qualities of the fabric from those lines. And the rendering of the stone banister behind her...It’s like a controlled frenzy. Curator: Exactly. And considering this print form—engraving—allows us to examine its broader distribution. The print trade was booming. Works like these circulated widely. Did ownership of this imply taste, even status? It connects consumption habits with this particular image. Editor: The staging definitely reinforces that idea. Notice the meticulously arranged basket of fruit and the young woman daintily sampling something. The backdrop, the carefully pruned tree... all constructed elements contribute to conveying "taste" as an active and cultivated virtue. We need to unpack this ideal in relation to Dutch societal hierarchies during the period. Curator: And it's more than just subject matter, think about the labor embedded here: the engraver, the printer, and then the consumer and its reception by certain societal groups, of prints like this, demonstrating how artistic skill can shape societal values. Editor: It begs the question—who had access to these prints and whose perception of taste was being validated or influenced? The engraving as an object acted as a medium for transmitting this very constructed idea of what ‘good taste’ should look like within very strict societal contexts. Curator: A point very well taken! Seeing this makes me appreciate the often overlooked labor that contributes to shaping social perceptions and societal tastes! Editor: Absolutely. Thinking about this piece now I see it not just as art, but also an effective medium reflecting both values and their distribution in 17th-century Dutch culture.