Stultifera navis (Ship of Fools)

1st August, 1497

Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

Sebastian Brant

Author, Swiss, 1458 - 1521

Attributed to Albrecht Dürer and Various Artists, Sebastian Brant (author)

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bound volume with 117 woodcut illustrations from 112 blocks

  • Credit Line

    William B. O'Neal Fund

  • Dimensions

    book: 21.59 × 16.19 × 3.02 cm (8 1/2 × 6 3/8 × 1 3/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2016.40.1

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Meder, p. 275, no. VII, 1497b


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Abbey of Saint Germain des Pres (bookplate). Henry Anthony Littledale (bookplate). Acquired in 1938 by Maurice Burrus [1882-1959], Alsace (bookplate); (Sims Reed Rare Books, London, sale December 15, 2015); purchased 2016 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2018

  • Sense of Humor: Caricature, Satire, and the Comical in Prints and Drawings from Leonardo to the Present, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2018 - 2019.

Bibliography

1932

  • Meder, Joseph. Dürer-Katalog; ein Handbuch über Albrecht Dürers Stiche, Radierungen, Holzschnitte, deren Zustände, Ausgaben und Wasserzeichen. Vienna: Verlag Gilhofer und Ranschburg, 1932. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971: 275, no. VII, 1497b.

1964

  • Goff, Frederick R. _Incunabula in American Libraries, a third census of fifteenth-century books recorded in North American collections._New York, 1964: no. B-1090.

2001

  • Schoch, Rainer, Mattihas Mende, and Anna Scherbaum. Albrecht Dürer: Das druckgraphische Werk. Munich, 2001: vol. 2: no. 266.III.

Inscriptions

by later hands, first free endpaper in graphite upper left: 975 / Kain 3750 / (underlined:) Twu ff. 102 / ft. 72 pendu, vestauré / sans perte / 14380 / 3ff. table [m?] guent. / iire / hsgg / 16fy, [sf?]; in brown ink on title page top center: (not deciphered); on final endpaper upper left in brown ink: 1219 / a +[?]

Markings

2 stickers on last free endpaper printed, 1 in purple ink: [not deciphered] 1938; the other: [not deciphered] x, NT


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