Fabel van de boer en de sater

A peasant sits at a wooden table in a rustic kitchen, blowing on a bowl of soup while a satyr with goat legs and a leafy crown looks on in confusion. To the left, a woman works over a large pot, and various domestic objects like jars and bowls are scattered throughout the scene. The satyr is depicted at the moment he decides to leave, having become distrustful of a man who can blow both hot and cold from the same mouth.

Created in Prague while Sadeler was court engraver to Rudolf II, this work uses a classical fable as a moral emblem to explore the perceived inconsistency of human nature. It reflects the Mannerist interest in the boundary between the wild, instinctual world of the satyr and the rational, yet often duplicitous, world of man.