China, East Asia, quotes, research
There is much common ground between jesters and actors, particularly comic actors. Jesters could perform in court entertainments, whether impromptu skits or full-blown plays or masques. Similarly, actors could play the role of a jester either as a character in a...
16th century, England, English, Europe, historical figure, quotes, research
The humanist writer and entertainer John Heywood (c. 1497 – c. 1580) used the padding of a jester’s folly to deliver his political views more effectively and to build bridges among factions. He spoke in a direct manner to Henry VIII but with sufficient...
16th century, 17th century, bibliography, book chapter, engraving, Europe, fooleum, Germany, Netherlands, painting, print, research, woodcut
Kenneth Craig’s excellent paper takes a sweeping look at examples of fool-peeping-through-fingers paintings and prints, as presented in our Five Guys Named Moe series. Like Cavalli-Björkman’s earlier paper, but more comprehensively, it discusses the...
16th century, bibliography, Europe, fooleum, journal paper, Netherlands, painting, research
Cavalli-Björkman, at the time curator at the National Museum in Stockholm, wrote this paper when the museum acquired the ‘Laughing Jester’, the first in our ‘Five Guys Named Moe’ series of fool-peeping-through-fingers paintings, this one also...
16th century, 17th century, bibliography, book chapter, England, Europe, France, historical figure, Italy, research, Spain
During a few hundred years the European aristocracy had something of a mania for dwarfs, ‘natural’ fools, and other humans of physical or mental difference or disability. Their relationships with these people of more humble backgrounds can be complex,...
15th century, 16th century, 17th century, bibliography, England, Europe, historical figure, research, Scotland, Stuart, thesis
This thesis makes a strong contribution to our understanding of several aspects of the fool, building on earlier work by Jessica Secmezsoy-Urquhart and covering the period 1488-1649. Geographically, it zooms in on the Stuart (Stewart) court’s relationship with...
