16th century, Europe, fictive fool, fooleum, 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...
16th century, Europe, fictive fool, fooleum, Netherlands, painting, primary source
The second in our peeping-through-fingers series is almost identical in stance and props to the anonymous ‘Laughing Jester’ recently featured, including the coxcomb-ass-ear-cap, the glasses half-revealed, and the marotte or fool-stick. In this case the...
16th century, Europe, fooleum, Netherlands, painting, primary source
The ‘Laughing Jester’ by an unknown Dutch artist is generally dated to around 1520. This work, which is the front cover illustration of the Fools Are Everywhere book, is one of several paintings featuring a jester in this enigmatic stance – peeping...
17th century, fooleum, Netherlands, primary source
A lively portrayal of a dancing dwarf, accompanied by a piper, this is from an album of 102 drawings, with the dwarf resplendent in a striped silk costume.  The details provided below by the British Museum, to which it belongs, deal with the nature and ownership of...
