Gluttony

published 1558

Pieter van der Heyden after Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Associated Names
Pieter van der Heyden

Artist, Netherlandish, active c. 1551/1572

Hieronymus Cock

Publisher, Netherlandish, 1518 - 1570

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Artist After, Netherlandish, c. 1525/1530 - 1569

The image shows swirling and curving lines with scattered figures of different shapes throughout. It features a dream-like scene with peculiar and abstract imagery. In the upper left section, a face emerges from a barrel with wheels. Nearby, a table is filled with twisted human forms interacting in a chaotic manner. On the right, a head with windmill sails protrudes from a mound, with oversized barrels in the landscape. Various figures engage in activities like climbing and resting within the narrative of the environment.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    plate: 22.5 × 29.6 cm (8 7/8 × 11 5/8 in.)
    sheet: 27.4 × 37.4 cm (10 13/16 × 14 3/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1964.8.428

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    New Hollstein, no. 25, State only

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1965

  • Drolleries and Demons: Six Centuries of 'Fantastic' Prints, IBM Gallery, New York, NY, 1965, no. 23.

Bibliography

1908

  • Bastelaer, Rene van. Les estampes de Peter Bruegel l'ancien. Brussels: G. van Oest et Cie, 1908.

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Pieter Bruegel, Nadine Orenstein author). Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996-, no. 25, state only.

Inscriptions

bottom center, on overturned washtub, in plate: brueghel / Inuentor; lower center, in image, in plate: GVLA; lower center, in image, in plate: PAME [artist's monogram]; lower right, in image, in plate: H. Cock. excud cum gratia et privilegio. 1558; in lower margin, in plate: EBRIETAS EST VITANDA, INGLVVIESQVE CIBORVM. (Drunkenness and Gluttony are to be shunned.) / Schout dronckenschap, en gulsichlyck eten / Want overdaet doet godt en hem selven vergheten. (Shun drunkenness and gluttony, for excess makes man forget God and himself.) [translation from Nadine Orenstein, ed., Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001, p. 149.]

Wikidata ID

Q65511678

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