Schaking van de vrouw 1648 - 1650

"Shaking of the Woman", by Samuel van Hoogstraten, is a small etching. Although undated, we can place this work within the Dutch Golden Age, a period of unprecedented economic and cultural growth for the Netherlands when the Dutch East India Company was at its height, while the Dutch were colonizing parts of the world and involved in the transatlantic slave trade. The print depicts the curious image of several men carrying a woman on a stretcher, while another woman looks on from a small hill. It's a scene of apparent absurdity, yet reflects the very real societal views on women during the 17th century. During this time, women were often seen as property, their roles strictly confined to domesticity and subservience. Hoogstraten’s artwork is thought to illustrate a proverb about foolish men who are easily deceived by women. What does it mean to carry a woman on a stretcher? What are they doing? Are they upholding her? Or trying to get rid of her? The artwork thus reflects the complex and often contradictory attitudes towards women in 17th-century Dutch society, where their status was both idealized and undermined.