Nar met een zotskolf

About this artwork

Prent afkomstig uit: Erasmus, Desiderius. Morias enkomion (...). Bazel: Johann Rudolf Genath, 1676. De prenten hierin zijn naar tekeningen die Hans en Ambrosius Holbein maakten voor de theoloog Oswald Myconius in diens uitgave van de Moriae encomium (Lof der Zotheid) van 1516.

Art Historical Context

This delicate etching by Caspar Merian, measuring just 64 by 62 millimeters, served as an illustration in the 1676 Basel edition of Desiderius Erasmus’s celebrated satirical work *In Praise of Folly*. Created nearly a century and a half after the book’s first appearance, the print captures the central figure of the “fool,” complete with the traditional jester’s staff known as a zotskolf. Merian’s etching reproduces designs originally drawn by Hans and Ambrosius Holbein for a 1516 edition prepared by the theologian Oswald Myconius, preserving the lively spirit of those earlier Renaissance drawi...