Jonge boer omhelst een boeren meisje 1620 - 1631

Adriaen Matham created this print of a young farmer embracing a farm girl. The Dutch Golden Age was a period of immense economic and cultural growth in the Netherlands. With this came new ideas about class, gender roles, and the relationship between rural and urban life. Consider how Matham’s representation of the embracing couple engages with these shifting social dynamics. Their clothing suggests a blending of social classes, hinting at the fluidity of identity during this time. The intimate embrace challenges traditional codes of behavior. Look at how the intensity of their embrace evokes both affection and perhaps a transgression of social boundaries. The figures in the background, possibly other farm workers, introduce an element of narrative ambiguity. Matham asks us to consider the emotional and social complexities inherent in human connection. The inscription at the bottom suggests a negotiation of desire and fulfillment: ‘The man’s desire, which is satisfied when he has enjoyed…I have, and yet my lusts are never satisfied.’