Open full image Pin

A Fool Feeding Flowers to Swine [fol. 42 recto]

French early 16th Century

1514

ink

From the collection of National Gallery of Art

Renaissance Renaissance Allegory sus scrofa

Dominant colour

A Fool Feeding Flowers to Swine [fol. 42 recto] is a 1514 ink by French early 16th Century, a Renaissance work, depicting sus scrofa, held at National Gallery of Art.

Who painted this?: French early 16th Century
When & what style?: 1514 · Renaissance
Where can I see it?: National Gallery of Art

About this work

A man in old clothes kneels in mud. He holds pink flowers out to a pig. The pig sniffs them without interest. This comes from a book of drawings made around 1515. The artist used ink and thin watercolor layers called glazing. He built up soft colors on rough paper. It shows a fool wasting pretty things. Look it up at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.