It Is All Hay Artist: Frans Pourbus the Elder (Flemish, 1545–1581)

1575

Prints and Drawings

By appointment, Duffy Study Room

The circular format of this drawing suggests that it was probably a design for a stained-glass roundel, although it might have been made for a print. The drawing illustrates the Flemish proverb Al Hoy ([It is] all hay). In the common understanding of sixteenth-century Flanders, hay represented something trivial or worthless; the composition is thus to be interpreted as a vanitas—an allusion to humankind’s folly in striving for transient earthly gains and pleasures. The fool at the center feeds hay to a cleric and a soldier, while another fool offers a young woman some hay on a pitchfork.

Medium

Pen and brown ink and brown wash over black chalk, encircled in red chalk

Dimensions

sheet: 10 3/16 × 9 5/16 in. (25.9 × 23.7 cm)
framed: 20 1/2 × 15 1/2 in. (52.1 × 39.4 cm)

Credit Line

Egmont Collection, Yale Library Transfer

Accession Number

1961.65.9

Geography

Made in Flanders

Culture

Flemish

Period

16th century

Classification

Drawings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
John Percival, 1st Earl of Egmont (1683-1748); John T. Graves; Robert Hoe (sale, New York, Anderson Auction Company, 15-19 April, 1912; Library of Robert Hoe, Part III, A-K, no.949); Yale University Library (anonymous donor, 1957)
Bibliography
  • Lisa Hodermarsky, Suzanne Boorsch, and John J. Marciari, Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2006), 78–80, 247, no. 17, ill.
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Marks

On backing sheet, shield with a Strasburg lily or fleur-de-lys, topped with a crown

Inscriptions

Inscribed in pen and brown ink, upper left: "francisco pourbus / fecit in antwen [Antwerpen?] / 1575"; on robe of priest: "...WLVTE[?] APOSTATE"; lower right, lower part of letters cut off: "...on tal[?] 1575"; at right edge. partially cut: "10[?]"

Technical metadata and APIs

IIIF

Open in Mirador

View IIIF manifest

The International Image Interoperability Framework, or IIIF, is an open standard for delivering high-quality, attributed digital objects online at scale. Visit iiif.io to learn more

Linked Art

API response for this object

Linked Art is a Community working together to create a shared Model based on Linked Open Data to describe Art.