Het Gevoel: een man kamt zijn haar 1670 - 1724

This mezzotint, "The Sense of Feeling," was crafted by Jacob Gole around the late 17th century. Here, a man contorts his face, eyes squeezed shut, as he vigorously combs his hair. The act of grooming, seemingly mundane, carries potent symbolic weight, resonating with themes of vanity, self-awareness, and the very human struggle with our physical form. The pained grimace, however, complicates this act. Think of Botticelli’s Venus, a symbol of ideal beauty, yet her birth from the sea suggests a vulnerability. The act of grooming, here, is not one of beautification, but a visceral, perhaps painful, engagement with the self. This image evokes a primitive expression of feeling, a reminder of our corporeal existence that echoes across time, from ancient fertility figures to modern expressions of bodily angst in art. It touches on our collective memory of physical experience. This resonates as a powerful expression engaging viewers on a deep, subconscious level. The cyclical return and reinterpretation of these themes across history reveal the complex interplay between culture, memory, and the enduring human condition.