16th century, Europe, fictive fool, gallery, Netherlands, painting, primary source
The last in this series of paintings (for now, I keep stumbling across new ones) bears a striking resemblance to our mysterious Moe No. 4. This one, too, I found on an auction site. Said to be the work of the Master of 1537, who worked in Mechelen and whose name...
16th century, Europe, fictive fool, gallery, German, Germany, primary source, woodcut
The latest in our series of fools peeping through their fingers, this one is a woodcut by Heinrich Vogtherr the Younger (1513-68), dated to around 1540 and so slightly later than the preceding paintings on the same theme.  He has the cap and bells complete with ass...
21st century, Europe, primary source, quotes, Ukraine
Humour can help people cope and even survive. As the cartoonist Chappatte put it, it helps us digest the horror of the world, and breathe a little (is that why laughing can also have you take in deep breaths?)I was glad to read of signs of humour in Odessa and the...
21st century, Europe, primary source, quotes, Ukraine
We know from Rubinstein, who mocked and cavorted in the Warsaw Ghetto, that jesters and humour can play a role in even extreme and violent situations. I was struck by references to this in an interview with President Zelensky by journalists from The Atlantic. ...
16th century, Europe, fictive fool, gallery, painting, primary source
Another version of the peeping-through-fingers theme, this one closely resembling the second in our series, which we’ll call the Wellesley fool. It was sold by Christie’s in 2017 and they attributed it to a follower of Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen...
16th century, correspondence, Europe, historical figure, Italian, Italy, primary source, quotes, stories
Antonio da Trento, known as Nanino (Little Dwarf), belonged to the court of the Marquis of Mantua. There is a letter written in dialect in 1495 from Nanino to the Marquis, Francesco II Gonzaga (1466-1519). In a letter dated 24 July 1512, from the Marquis to the...
16th century, Europe, fictive fool, gallery, Netherlands, painting, primary source
The peeking through fingers stance is enigmatic, this we know. This version of it, apparently a pretty straightforward twin of the second in our series, if not a copy, is elusive. By chance I saw it on an online art mart. It has now disappeared and I know of no...
16th century, Europe, fictive fool, gallery, Netherlands, painting, primary source
This version of the ‘peeping through fingers’ jester was attributed by Tietze-Conrat in her 1957 book to the artist Pieter Huys (c. 1519-81), although the art historian Cavalli-Björkman has questioned this and further moots the possibility that this...
