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"Do Not Poke the Fire with a Sword" [fol. 20 recto]

French early 16th Century

1514

ink

paper

From the collection of National Gallery of Art

Renaissance Renaissance Allegory

Dominant colour

"Do Not Poke the Fire with a Sword" [fol. 20 recto] is a 1514 ink by French early 16th Century, a Renaissance work, 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

The painting is titled "Do Not Poke the Fire with a Sword" and was created in the early 16th Century. It's an allegory, which means it uses symbols to convey a message. The artist used pen and gray ink on laid paper to create this work, which is a technique that was common during the Renaissance. You can learn more about this style by looking into the movement: Renaissance.

About the artist

Artist

French early 16th Century

A French draftsman from the early 1500s filled sheets of laid paper with tiny, sharp-tongued instructions—ink sketches paired with warnings like “Do Not Eat Your Heart Out” or “Feed Not Things That Have Sharp Claws.”…

See the richer artist page