Four boys, a young satyr, and a goat (copy in reverse) 1650 - 1750

Wenceslaus Hollar created this engraving, "Four boys, a young satyr, and a goat" sometime before his death in 1677. Hollar, a Bohemian printmaker active in 17th century Europe, worked during a time of immense social and political upheaval marked by the Thirty Years' War. Here, we see an idealized vision of childhood and the pastoral, where plump cherubic figures are free to frolic with animals in nature. However, the presence of the young satyr complicates this Arcadian fantasy. Satyrs, traditionally associated with wildness and male sexuality, introduce a tension into the image, hinting at the loss of innocence. This is heightened by the knowing gazes of the figures, inviting the viewer into their private world. The act of suckling directly from the goat could be read as a comment on natural innocence, or it could symbolize the exploitation of the natural world, which at the time was becoming the site of capitalist extraction. Ultimately, the picture plays with the viewer's own longing for an uncomplicated past, while questioning the terms of innocence and experience.