XXXIII Ick eet mijn korenken groene, en jae groene 1614

This engraving was made by Roemer Visscher in the Netherlands sometime around the turn of the 17th century. It depicts two grasshoppers and a fragment of a poem, a combination that can tell us a great deal about the times in which it was made. The image is one of many emblems in Visscher’s collection, Sinnepoppen, or “catchy images”, which set out to teach moral lessons. Here, the poem describes how the grasshopper indulges during the summer months, singing in the green corn and delighting passersby. Yet, when winter comes, the grasshopper has nothing and is nowhere to be found. The message here is clear: Visscher is offering a commentary on Dutch society. He critiques those who indulge in worldly pleasures instead of working hard and saving for the future. It is through understanding the social function of emblems like this that we can begin to understand the role of art in 17th-century Dutch society.