Lachende boer

About this artwork

height 188 mm x width 142 mm

Art Historical Context

Jacob Gole’s “Lachende boer” (“Laughing Farmer”) is a small work on paper measuring just 188 by 142 millimetres. Created sometime between 1670 and 1724, the print captures a single, animated figure whose open-mouthed laugh invites viewers to share in a moment of rustic humour. The modest size suggests it was intended for intimate viewing, perhaps as a loose sheet or page in a collector’s album. As a work on paper, the piece belongs to the long tradition of Dutch printmaking that flourished in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Prints like this one allowed images of everyday ...

About the Artist

Jacob Gole · 1660–1737

Jacob Gole (c. 1660-1737) was a Dutch engraver and mezzotinter renowned for his portrait engravings and his role in disseminating the mezzotint technique across Europe. Born in Paris to the celebrated Huguenot cabinetmaker Pierre Gole, he emerged as one of the most skilled printmakers of the late Dutch Golden Age. Gole's significance in art history lies primarily in his mastery of the mezzotint t...