Bij een bosvijver geven een man en een vrouw elkaar een hand 1751 - 1816

Reinier Vinkeles created this print of a man and woman holding hands by a pond. The image evokes the Dutch Republic’s late 18th century, a time of economic decline and growing social tensions. The print embodies the aesthetic of sensibility, which prioritized feeling and personal experience. The figures are dressed in the height of fashion, and are likely members of the Dutch elite. The man’s gesture can be interpreted as a reflection of the growing emphasis on emotional expression in Dutch society at the time. But we might also read a degree of social criticism in it. The Dutch Republic had a tradition of prints that were intended to comment on the social structures of the time and were often distributed as widely and cheaply as possible. Further research into the artist’s social background and the Dutch print market might shed more light on this image and its meanings.