Tafereel van de belacchende werelt, en des selfs geluckige eeuwe: goet rondt, met by-gevoegde raedsel-spreucken, aen-gevvesen in de boer-achtige eenvoudigheyt, op de Haegsche kermis : verçiert met konst-rijcke af-beeldingen

Abstract

"First edition of a charmingly illustrated satirical work by the celebrated Dutch artist, Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne (ca. 1589-1662). The main part of the work is a dialogue between the farmerboy Tamme Lubbert (Soft Johnny) and his sweetheart. They comment on the attractions and on the people at the annual fair at The Hague. They are followed by a gentleman who notes down their conversation and adds his own comments by way of moralising proverbs, wordplay, silly word-rhyme, and sayings in the margins. The finely engraved plates show lively and grotesque scenes of the fair at The Hague; the topsy-turvy world (a woman watching her man cleaning the floor; the ship of fools; a man who`s mind is sharpened on a whetstone; animals dressed up to the latest fashion etc. Incorporated in the text is a dictionary of thieves' slang. Van de Venne was a versatile Dutch Baroque painter of allegories, genre subjects and portraits, as well as a miniaturist, book-illustrator and designer of political satires. He designed the plates of Jacob Cats's Sinne- en minne beelden."