Dees prent verbeeld van 't minste tot het meesten / De vyf zinnen des menschen en de beesten 1767 - 1793

This print, made by Erven Hendrik van der Putte, presents the five senses. Each sense is allegorically represented within a diamond frame. Take, for example, "Tgeziict," or sight, depicted with a woman gazing into a mirror, an object which has been, since antiquity, loaded with notions of vanity and self-awareness. But mirrors also reflect truth, a concept explored by painters such as Jan van Eyck. Consider, too, "Reuk," or smell, shown as a woman tending to flowers. Here, the transient beauty of nature intersects with human cultivation, a theme recurring throughout art history, linking back to the symbolic language of flowers in classical mythology, such as the rose, a symbol for Venus. Note that, as these symbols evolve, they reflect our changing understanding of the world, a continuous dialogue between past and present, deeply rooted in our collective consciousness.