Prints and Principles

Most of the recent posts give details about individual prints and earlier posts discuss some of the subtle principles guiding artists in making images meaningful and memorable. For prints that are unsold, click "Items still available for sale" below. All other prints are no longer available. My contact email is oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com and my Instagram username is @printsandprinciples. I have created a separate blog to show my own work: https://printsandprinciplesjamesbrown.blogspot.com

Wednesday, 3 December 2025

Marcus Gheeraerts I, “Fable of the Fly and the Ants”, 1567

Marcus Gheeraerts I (also known as Marc Garrard, Marcus Geraerts, Marc Gerards, and Marcus Gheraerts) (1516/21–circa 1590)
“Fable of the Fly and the Ants” (titled in the plate, “De Vlieghe en Mieren” [The Flies and Ants]), 1567 (published in 1617)

The Rijksmuseum provides the following explanation of this fable regarding Aegidius Sadeler II’s (c.1570–1629) mirror copy of Marcus Gheeraerts’ engraving (Hollstein Dutch 390):
“A group of ants in front of a tree. A fly in the air. The fable tells of the fly bragging to the ants about its wonderful life. The ants praise their own industriousness. When winter comes, the fly dies, while the ants survive on the fruits of their labour. The moral of the story teaches that industriousness is a virtue and idleness a vice.”
https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200247581

Technical Details & Condition:
Etching on fine laid paper with full margins as published, featuring Dutch letterpress text above and below the engraving, and verso. The impression is strong, and the sheet is in excellent condition, free of tears, holes, folds, abrasions, or significant stains.

The print is plate 57 from a series of 125 plates published in Amsterdam (possibly by Sander Wybrantsz et al.) in 1617, serving as illustrations to Joost van den Vondel’s (1587–1679) “Vorstelijke Warande der Dieren” (Princely Warren of Animals).

Dimensions:
• Sheet: 19.6 x 15.7 cm
• Plate mark: 9.6 x 11.5 cm
• Image borderline: 9.4 x 11.3 cm

Letterpress Dutch lettering:
• Above the plate mark: “57 WARANDE DER DIEREN./ 57. De Vlieghe en Mieren.”
• Below the plate mark: “SULke redenen zijnder … leven niet seker. CUSPINIANUS”

References:
• Hollstein (Dutch) 1–108 (FWH Hollstein, 1949, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca.1450–1700, vol. VII, Amsterdam, Menno Hertzberger, p. 100, cat. nos. 1–108)
• The British Museum describes an earlier edition (c. 1567):
“'The fly and the ant'; a group of ants at left are crawling into a tree; a fly flies down to them; in the background there are two men on horses; in the background there is a church …”
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0612-167
• Archive.org offers an online view of the 1682 edition:
https://archive.org/details/vorstelijckewara00vond/page/n127/mode/2up

Price & Shipping:
AU$264 (approximately US$174.59 / €149.68 / £130.89), including worldwide express shipping. Please note that import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this visually intriguing emblem print—hopefully other viewers will be more attuned to see the large fly depicted at the centre of the composition than I was!—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

This print has been sold