Gustus / De Smaak 1620 - 1652

"Gustus / De Smaak" (Taste), a 17th-century etching by Cornelis van Kittensteyn, depicts a scene of a richly dressed couple enjoying the pleasures of taste. The man smokes a pipe, while the woman gracefully holds a glass. The setting is a grand outdoor space, possibly a garden, with a sculpture, a fountain, and a monkey. The scene, likely inspired by the writings of the Roman poet Horace, is an allegorical representation of "taste" as a sense and a concept. This print, currently housed at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, is a striking example of the art of the Dutch Golden Age, characterized by meticulous details, a keen observation of human nature, and a love of symbolic representation.