LIX Iong Hovelingh, out schoveling 1614

This etching by Roemer Visscher, made around the turn of the 17th century, appears in a book titled “Emblemata.” It shows a vase of flowers and a discarded bouquet being watered by an upturned skull. The image is accompanied by a poetic verse, lamenting that old servants and loyal horses are often treated like discarded flowers, once their beauty and usefulness have faded. Visscher was part of a vibrant intellectual scene in Amsterdam at the time, where the humanist tradition of emblem books thrived. These books combined images, verses, and mottoes to convey moral or philosophical messages, offering commentary on society. This emblem book critiques the social dynamics of its time, particularly the treatment of the elderly and those who have outlived their usefulness in the eyes of the wealthy. To further understand this work, one might delve into the history of social welfare and class relations in the Dutch Golden Age.