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De differentibus bene facere eum statim possint (On Procrastinators When They Can Do Well Immediately), folio 32 (verso) from Jodocus Badius Ascensius, Navis Stultifera (Ship of Fools) (fourth or fifth Latin edition; Basel: Nicolas Lamparter, 1506/1507)
ca. 1494
Not on view
The book Das Narrenschiff (The Ship of Fools) was a popular satirical work by the humanist writer Sebastian Brant (1457–1521) that describes a ship of individuals representing different classes and professions sailing to a fool’s paradise. The text makes fun of corruption, vice, and vulgarity in modern society, and was an immediate best seller. Among the contributors to the first edition of 1494 was the young artist Albrecht Dürer, who during his journeyman years produced woodcut designs of great inventiveness for a number of major publishers. This group of loose pages derives from a 1506 or 1507 edition with the Latin title Navis Stultifera that included a new commentary to Brant’s text by the French scholar Jodocus Badius Ascensius (1462–1535).
The “caw” of the raven—in Latin, “cras”—translates as “tomorrow,” and was understood as a memento mori (reminder of death) in the Middle Ages. The ravens depicted here thus perch on a fool who is guilty of procrastination, failing to prepare for a fate that can come at any moment.
- Attributed to
- Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
- Title
- De differentibus bene facere eum statim possint (On Procrastinators When They Can Do Well Immediately), folio 32 (verso) from Jodocus Badius Ascensius, Navis Stultifera (Ship of Fools) (fourth or fifth Latin edition; Basel: Nicolas Lamparter, 1506/1507)
- Date
- ca. 1494
- Object Type
- Medium
- Woodcut
- Dimensions
- 12 x 9.4 cm (image)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Dr. Leon Kolb
- Accession Number
- 1959.120.20
Currently on view
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