Fabel van de beer en de bijen

A large bear stands in a rustic farmyard, cringing as a swarm of bees attacks its face and body. To the right, several straw beehives (skeps) have been disturbed, with honeycombs spilling out from the overturned vessels onto the ground. The background features a wooden barn and a ladder, situating the moralizing scene in a domestic rural environment.

Engraved while Aegidius Sadeler was the imperial artist for Rudolf II in Prague, this work adapts the Aesopic fable tradition to provide a moral lesson on the dangers of uncontrolled appetite and anger. It reflects the Rudolfine court's intellectual interest in animal behavior as a mirror of human nature and the use of naturalistic detail to convey philosophical truths.