Investors optimistically seek the protection of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, in the Dutch financial crisis of 1720, while others are irreversably ruined. Etching, 1720.

In the foreground a tree, on the left side of which the stadhouder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, grants shelter under his cloak to three naked men representing destitute former shareholders, while on the right side a boy defecates on the head of a man buried up to his neck surrounded by share certificates. Beyond is a pool in which Bombario (so identified in the verses) with a magic lantern, and another man flounder; on the far bank, dealers use share certificates as bait to catch victims while another dealer has a fishing net

In the left background is a bakery inside which the baker is kneading dough: the verses below indicates that he is cooking, or falsifying, shares. Centre background, John Law (identified by the legend "Law") in front of a church, has dismounted from his horse to offer a bag of money to two people, who refuse it

In the right background is a fairground wheel, the 'Malle molen' (Fool's mill, a mill in The Hague), on which four investors ride; above the wheel, the clouds part to reveal the sun in the sign of Pisces shown as two fish. Next to the wheel is the legend "De malle molens zyn afgeschaft, En veel met vallende ziekte gestraft" ("The fools mill has been abolished, And many punished with the falling sickness [epilepsy]"). Right foreground, a Jewish money-lender, on a donkey with a large sack of coins in front of him, hands a money bag to a pedlar of spectacles. Bottom right, a man identified in the verses as a miser, wearing a fur coat and hat, laments the losses he has suffered on his shares, while his woman servant tots up her wealth on her fingers to taunt him

[Amsterdam] : [publisher not identified], [1720?]

1 print : etching, with engraving ; platemark 25.8 x 32.7 cm

De verreeze Frederik Hendrik ouwerwets patroon der kerkeerde barmhertigheid &c &c &c Translation of lettering: "The resurrected Frederik Hendrik, ancient patron of mistaken charity, etc. etc. etc.". Below the image, Dutch verses engraved in three columns

'Het groote tafereel der dwaasheid', Amsterdam, 1720, is a collection of literary and pictorial satires relating to the Dutch speculation bubble of 1720, which occurred simultaneously with the South Sea bubble and the Mississippi bubble involving John Law. This print is one of the many in that collection: see A.H. Cole, op. cit.

Frederik Muller, De nederlandsche geschiedenis in platen. Beredeneerde beschrijving van nederlandsche historieplaten, zinneprenten en historische kaarten, Amsterdam 1863, part 2, no. 3595 (60)

British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. 2, London 1978, no. 1685

Arthur H. Cole, The great mirror of folly (Het groote tafereel der dwaasheid). An economic-bibliographical study, Boston 1949, no. 60

Frans De Bruyn, 'Het groote tafereel der dwaasheid and the speculative bubble of 1720: a bibliographical enigma and an economic force', Eighteenth-century life, 2000, 24: 62-87, pp. 85-86, n. 33

Wellcome Collection 816028i