Het gehoor after 1676

Willem Swidde created this print, 'Het gehoor,' depicting the sense of hearing, sometime before his death in 1697. Swidde was working in a Dutch Republic that was economically prosperous, but also deeply stratified. In this allegorical representation, a woman is framed within an ornate, oval border. She is elegantly dressed, seated before a musical instrument, and appears to be singing or listening intently, embodying the act of hearing. It's interesting to consider how gender plays into this artwork. Women were often associated with the arts, but rarely given the same professional recognition as men. Here, the woman is central, almost a personification, yet remains anonymous, a symbol rather than an individual. It is important to remember how the very concept of the ‘senses’ was understood at the time, and how that understanding was shaped by social and cultural norms. It is both a celebration of human perception and a reflection of the complex dynamics of gender, class, and identity in the Dutch Golden Age.