Titelprent met vier vrouwelijke personificaties bij een hart 1778

Reinier Vinkeles made this print with etching and burin in the late 18th century in the Netherlands. The allegorical scene shows four female figures who exemplify virtues associated with the human heart. The image creates meaning through well-established visual codes. Justice, with her scales, stands alongside two other figures representing virtues, while a fourth kneels in what may be supplication. Made during the late Dutch Enlightenment, the print embodies the values of the period: reason, balance, and a focus on earthly life, as represented by the virtues. Although allegorical prints like this can seem old-fashioned to contemporary viewers, they served an important public function in their own time, reinforcing shared values through visual language. Historians consult a wide range of sources in order to interpret prints such as this one, including emblem books, which explain the meaning of standard allegorical figures, and periodicals, which show how prints were consumed and understood by contemporary audiences.