Venus en Neptunus 1775

Simon Fokke created this print, Venus and Neptune, sometime in the 18th century, we aren't sure exactly when, but it's now part of the collection at the Rijksmuseum. The image shows Venus descending to ask Neptune to stir up storms so that Telemachus cannot reach Ithaca. This etching revives classical mythology within an 18th-century Dutch context. It references the canon of classical art that was then central to academic training across Europe, where the classical past offered a shared cultural language. Consider the institutional history of the Academy during this period. These institutions helped shape the artistic styles and subject matter. This print speaks to those norms, and, in its explicit eroticism, perhaps subtly challenges the didactic and moralizing function that was so often ascribed to art. To truly understand this piece, we need to consider the social and institutional contexts that shaped its creation and reception. Research into the Dutch art world of the 18th century, the role of classical imagery, and the artist’s biography can reveal deeper layers of meaning. Art is never created in a vacuum; it always reflects the society that produces it.