The Shyp of Fooles

1509

___

___

When Sebastian Brant published Das Narrenschiff (The Ship of Fools), the poem was illustrated with woodcuts designed by several artists including the young Albrecht Dürer. The immensely popular images whimsically depict a range of foolish and sinful behaviours. The figures in them wear fools’ caps shaped like an ass’s ears with bells on their tips. In this image, the fools are crowded together in small boats steered by fools and headed for Narragonia, the Land of Fools.