Pieter Bruegel andThe Feast of Fools

Abstract

Pieter Bruegel the Elder's engraving The Feast of Fools (Fig. 1), is a fascinating work that deals directly with the concept of folly that is so close to the heart of his moralizing, didactic art.1 The intent of this study is to discuss the way in which the print is currently understood in the light of contemporary historical evidence as well as the literary tradition of folly, in order to obtain a fuller and more accurate appreciation of its intellectual content.2