16th century, carving, Europe, gallery, Germany
How about this for serendipity: strolling around the V&A, I couldn’t believe my eyes when they spotted this drop-dead gorgeous towel-holder. Carved, painted and gilded oak, it was made in Northern Germany and the museum dates it to c. 1520-25. This would...
17th century, Europe, gallery, Germany
It is unlikely that historical jesters wore the stock costume of ‘cap and bells’ so visible in medieval and some later iconography, and so prevalent in the Western conception of the court jester. Â So I was delighted and intrigued to spot this 17th century...
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...
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, 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...
16th century, Europe, fictive fool, gallery, 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...
