Illustratie voor de Decamerone vam Boccaccio 1697

This illustration for Boccaccio's Decameron was made by Romeyn de Hooghe, a Dutch artist, in the late 17th or early 18th century. It depicts a scene with three figures; to the left a man with a sword pointing towards a painting, and to the right, a woman and a man with a fan sitting together. Images like this one need to be understood in the context of the Dutch Golden Age, a period of great economic and cultural growth for the Netherlands. De Hooghe’s image speaks to the wealth and social dynamics of the time. The image shows an interior with pictures on the wall, as well as people who are seemingly wealthy. But what is the story being told here? What did Boccaccio's stories mean at the time, and what did it mean to represent them in this way? To understand this illustration better, one could research the history of Dutch illustration, the reception of Boccaccio in the Netherlands, and the social history of the Dutch Golden Age. Only with the help of these sources can we truly understand the public role of art at this moment in time.