1592ca. The Wisdom of Fools - etching - 24.5 x 17.2 cm - Washington DC, NGA

This moralizing scene parodies noble pastimes, such as falconry, by showing a fool treating a night-dwelling owl as a prized hunting hawk. A second figure gazes intently through large spectacles, while a third holds a marotte, or fool's staff, topped with a miniature head. The exaggerated, muscular anatomy of the figures and the detailed landscape are characteristic of the Haarlem Mannerist style.

The print is a visual meditation on the Renaissance concept of Philautia (Self-Love), drawing directly from the humanist tradition of Sebastian Brant’s 'Ship of Fools' and Erasmus’s 'The Praise of Folly.' It illustrates the philosophical idea that man is often blind to his own ignorance, mistaking his own 'owls' (follies) for 'falcons' (wisdom).