Plate 57

"A Courtier"

 

Moriae Encomium

Illustrated by Hans Holbein the Younger

 

 

 

Single Greeting Card (with matching Envelope)

Code: H ME57 SGC
Price: US$5.00

Reproduction on 8x12" sheet

Code: H ME57 8x12
Price: US$30.00

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: H ME57 12x18
Price: US$60.00

 

Holbein's illustration shown in Plate 57 from Moriae Encomium is associated with the following text drawn from

John Wilson's 1668 translation:

 

And as to the court lords, what should I mention them? than most of whom though there be

nothing more indebted, more servile, more witless, more contemptible, yet they would seem

as they were the most excellent of all others. And yet in this only thing no men more modest,

in that they are contented to wear about them gold, jewels, purple, and those other marks of

virtue and wisdom; but for the study of the things themselves, they remit it to others, thinking

it happiness enough for them that they can call the king master, have learned the cringe a la

mode, know when and where to use those titles of Your Grace, My Lord, Your Magnificence;

in a word that they are past all shame and can flatter pleasantly. 

 

 

The associated French text from L'Eloge de la Folie (1728) follows:

 

Venons aux Grands de la Cour. Quelle bzarre espece d'hommes! Il n'y a point d'esclavage plus

rampant, plus dégoûtant, plus méprisable, que le leur; & cependant, ils regardent de haut en

bas tou les autres Mortels. Convenons, pourtant, qu'ils sont fort modestes sur un point; c'est

que, se contentant de porter sur le corps, l'or, les pierreries, la pourpre, & tous les autres

symboles de la sagesse & de la vertu, ils cedent génereusement aux autres le soin d'être sages

& vertueux. Ils ne conçoivent point de félicité plus grande, que d'avoir permission de parler

au Roi, de le trainter de Seigneur & de Maitre absolu, de lui faire un compliment court &

bien tourné, de ne pas épargner les titre fastueux de Votre Majesté, Votre Altesse Royal, Votre

Sérénité & c.