The One to Whom Fortune Is Playing Will Dance Merrily from Six Sayings about Fortune
ca. 1560
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Plate: 8 1/8 × 9 11/16 in. (20.7 × 24.6 cm) Sheet: 11 1/4 × 13 1/4 in. (28.6 × 33.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Barbara and Howard Fox and Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Elkind Gifts, 2013
Accession Number
2013.118.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
Dirck Volckert Coornhert's *The One to Whom Fortune Playing Will Dance Merrily is a captivating engraving from around 1560, part of his series *Six Sayings about Fortune This Dutch artist and humanist thinker, active in the vibrant Antwerp printmaking scene, used engravings to explore moral and philosophical themes, drawing from Renaissance emblem traditions. The plate measures 8 1/8 9 11/16 inches, with a larger size that highlights the precision of 16th-century print techniques, allowing for detailed dissemination of ideas across Europe. The title evokes a lively allegorical scene where For...