De Smaak

A man and a woman are seated in a close, intimate embrace; the man holds a piece of fruit to his lips while a tazza of wine and a cluster of grapes rest on a table nearby. In the background, a monkey mimics the human figures by eating, a common symbol for the base nature of the physical senses. The scene is rendered in the Haarlem Mannerist style, characterized by swelling musculature and intricate, rhythmic line-work.

This print is part of a series on the Five Senses, a theme central to Renaissance natural philosophy and Neoplatonism regarding the soul's interaction with the material world. It specifically warns against the dangers of gluttony and the surrendering of reason to physical appetite, echoing the moralizing tradition of the Low Countries.