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Original filePeasant Dance at the Church of Assendelft, 1596
Jonge paren die plezier maken en dansen, 1596 Boeren-dans om de kerk van Assendelft, Anno 1596 (titel op object)
About This Work
In a busy village square, figures engage in a lively outdoor dance before a prominent Gothic church. In the foreground, a scholar leans out of a vine-framed window holding a book, looking down upon the revelry with a detached expression. To his left, a man reaches up toward the window while other couples sit or stand in various states of intimacy and conversation.
This print reflects the moralizing Neo-Stoic philosophy prevalent among the Haarlem Mannerists, specifically the tension between the 'folly' of worldly pleasure and the 'reason' of the contemplative life. The Latin inscriptions characterize the dance as a source of scandal and vice, contrasting the unruly youth with the discipline of the scholar or cleric.