Touch (Tactus) - Cornelis Cort

An allegorical engraving by Cornelis Cort depicting the sense of touch, featuring a female figure interacting with a bird and a tortoise.

This engraving by Cornelis Cort, after a design by Frans Floris, represents the sense of touch, or Tactus. It is part of a series depicting the five senses, a popular subject in sixteenth-century Netherlandish art. The composition features a central female figure seated by the water, her hand extended to support a bird. This interaction serves as the primary visual metaphor for tactile sensation.

Cort employs precise hatching and cross-hatching techniques to define the folds of the figure's drapery and the textures of the surrounding environment. The inclusion of a tortoise near her foot and a spider web on the tree to the left provides additional symbolic layers, referencing the physical world and the sensitivity of touch. The background includes a small boat and a distant shoreline, which adds a sense of spatial depth to the scene.

The Latin inscription at the bottom, TACTUS SENSORIUM PER TOTUM CORPUS EXPANSM EST, AC PROINDE ETIAM EIUS ORGANUM, translates to the idea that touch is a sense spread throughout the entire body, and therefore its organ is as well. This reflects the period's interest in classical philosophy and human anatomy. The work demonstrates the technical mastery of Cort, who was instrumental in disseminating the style of Italian masters to the North through his reproductive prints. The clarity of the line work and the balanced arrangement of the figures show the influence of the Roman school on the Northern artistic tradition. This print remains a fine example of the intersection between classical allegory and the technical rigour of the Dutch printmaking tradition.