Het gehoor

Jacob Gole created this print titled 'Het gehoor', or ‘The Sense of Hearing’, during the Dutch Golden Age, a time when the Netherlands was a hub of global trade and artistic innovation. But underneath this prosperity were strict social hierarchies and moral codes. This print presents a complex tableau, reflecting the era’s ambivalent attitudes towards sensory experience. A woman sits laughing, perhaps at a bawdy song or joke, as musicians serenade her. The keys at her waist suggest she is a figure of some authority, possibly a housekeeper, yet her enjoyment of the raucous music challenges the restrained behavior expected of women. Gole’s work can be viewed as a commentary on social roles and expectations of the time. The emotional tenor of the work is palpable, and we’re left to question the dynamics of pleasure, social transgression, and gendered expectations of 17th-century Dutch society.