Please click on the emblem above to enlarge the image.
Roemer Visscher begins his commentary with a quote by Seneca, the Roman Stoic philosopher. Following Seneca, Visscher brings to his readers' attention the significance of proper education and continued practice, stressing the need to learn something >at an early age, to be able to use these lessons at a later stage in life. The skater and the church in the background testify to the Dutchness of the pictura. Many emblems in Sinnepoppen display typically Dutch objects or surroundings. The depiction of a human figure shows that Visscher opted to abandon the purity of representation characteristic of the first two 'schocken' of the work.
"Gheoeffent derf" resembles a well-known Dutch saying. For more Dutch proverbs in Sinnepoppen, >click here.
Roemer Visscher's iconographic use of skating can also be seen in the painting >'Icescene' (around 1615?) by Hendrik Avercamp. >Compare the two images.
