The Ass at School

1557

Pieter van der Heyden after Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Associated Names
Pieter van der Heyden

Artist, Netherlandish, active c. 1551/1572

Hieronymus Cock

Publisher, Netherlandish, 1518 - 1570

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Artist After, Netherlandish, c. 1525/1530 - 1569

This print shows a chaotic classroom scene, with young students engaging in various activities, some appearing mischievous and inattentive. In the top left corner, a donkey stands on its back feet behind a desk, one of its front hooves resting on the surface next to a page of sheet music. Also on the desk is a lit candle and what appears to be a pair of glasses. In the center of the print, an adult figure in a long dress with a feathered hat is in the middle of a group of small figures. Some of the students hold sheets of paper or large books, while others interact with one another, making strange expressions, or sit in various buckets and baskets. Other objects fill the space, like low benches, vases, and discarded books. In the background, a tall figure appears to be standing in an enclosed space with a barred window.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

2001

  • Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2001, no. 40, repro.

2018

  • Sense of Humor: Caricature, Satire, and the Comical in Prints and Drawings from Leonardo to the Present, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2018 - 2019.

Bibliography

1908

  • Bastelaer, Rene van. Les estampes de Peter Bruegel l'ancien. Brussels: G. van Oest et Cie, 1908.

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Pieter Bruegel, Nadine Orenstein author). Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996-, no. 32, state only.

2001

  • Orenstein, Nadine M., ed. Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, 2001: cat. no. 41.

Inscriptions

lower left, in image, in plate: Bruegel . inventor.; lower right, in plate, in image: COCK. EX. 1557; in lower margin, in plate: PARISIOS STOLIDVM SI QVIS TRANSMITTAT ASELLVM. SI HIC EST ASINVS NON ERIT ILLIC EQVVS. / Al reÿst den esele ter scholen om leeren ist eenen esele hÿ en sal gheen peert weder keeren (If you send a stupid ass to Paris, if it is an ass here, it will not be a horse there. / Although the ass goes to school in order to learn, if it is an ass, it will not return [as] a horse) [translation from Nadine Orenstein, ed., Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001, p. 142.]

Wikidata ID

Q65364631

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