Bombario as Aesop mocks monkeys eating cabbage, who represent investors in the Dutch share boom of 1720. Etching, 1720.
- Date:
- [1720?]
- Reference:
- 814377i
- Part of:
- Groote tafereel der dwaasheid.
- Pictures
About this work
Description
The following is based on the British Museum online catalogue. Bombario (the personification of deformed trade) in the role of Aesop dressed as Harlequin, holds a cabbage in his left hand and laughs as he points to a group of monkeys seated around a large cabbage and eating cabbages. Beyond, on the left is a group of monkeys and sheep; on the right, wolves chase sheep, and in the distance animals are fighting. On a cloud above Father Time orders a lion (representing the Netherlands) to pay Mercury in cash rather than with paper
Publication/Creation
[Amsterdam] : [publisher not identified], [1720?]
Physical description
1 print : etching, with engraving ; platemark 28.7 x 35.8 cm
Lettering
De lachende Ezopus op het koolmaal, gehouden ter afscheyd van de Actieapen. Dit tafereel vol snaaksche grillen ... Om ryk te zyn, of niet een bruy. Koop je geen kool!
Translation of lettering: "The laughing Aesop at the cabbage feast held on the departure of the share-apes". Below the image, Dutch verses engraved in four columns
Notes
'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.
References note
Frederik Muller, De nederlandsche geschiedenis in platen. Beredeneerde beschrijving van nederlandsche historieplaten, zinneprenten en historische kaarten, Amsterdam 1863, part 2, no. 3583 (48)
British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. 2, London 1978, no. 1678
Arthur H. Cole, The great mirror of folly (Het groote tafereel der dwaasheid). An economic-bibliographical study, Boston 1949, no. 48
Reference
Wellcome Collection 814377i
Type/Technique
Languages
Where to find it
Location Status Access Closed stores