Jongens spelen het spel Jonas in de wallevis Possibly 1649

Harmen ter Borch created this pen and brown ink drawing, Jongens spelen het spel Jonas in de wallevis, in 1649. It depicts a group of boys acting out the biblical story of Jonah and the whale. The Dutch Golden Age saw the rise of a prosperous middle class, and with it, a flourishing art market. Artists like ter Borch catered to this new audience with scenes of everyday life, often infused with moralizing messages. Here, the game being played becomes a microcosm of their society, reflecting religious knowledge and social structures. Is this play-acting an innocent game, or does it subtly critique the way religious stories are consumed and re-enacted? Are we as an audience, like the boy standing aside, observers of this scene, implicated in its meaning? Understanding this artwork involves diving into the cultural context of the 17th-century Netherlands. We can use period literature, religious texts, and studies of social history to better understand the world that produced it.