1588
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Stultitiam patiuntur opes (Wealth permits Stupidity), or, Allegory of Wealth, Lust, and Stupidity is a 1588 by Raphael Sadeler, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows a king and a woman surrounded by symbols of wealth. The king counts his money while a jester puts a fool's hat on him. The woman looks at herself in a mirror, distracted by her reflection. The scene is meant to caution viewers about wealth. It's a warning to think about our own relationships with money. Check out more art like this at The Cleveland Museum of Art.
In this pointed visual allegory, a king who personifies wealth counts his money at a table while a jester places a fool’s hat over his head. His female counterpart, distracted by her aged reflection in a mirror, displays her vanity in her luxurious clothing, lap dog, and hangers-on: flattery fans her, and stupidity, with a boar’s head, serves her food and drink. Such allegories were meant to both entertain while cautioning the viewer to question their own relationship to wealth.
Read the full account in the museum source.
The Sadeler family were the largest, and probably the most successful of the dynasties of Flemish engravers that were dominant in Northern European printmaking in the later 16th and 17th centuries, as both artists and publishers.
See the richer artist page
