Scatalogical woodcut illustration accompanying a poem characterizing the Roman Catholic polemicist Johannes Nas as an ass. Used by Nicolaus Henricus of Oberursel
Scatalogical woodcut illustration accompanying a poem characterizing the Roman Catholic polemicist Johannes Nas as an ass. Used by Nicolaus Henricus of Oberursel.
Birgit Wiedl notes that the Eselritt (ass-ride), like the Sauritt (sow-ride), "is the typical feature of a type of pamphlet that is known as Schandbild or Schmähbrief ('defamatory picture/letter') that ... show the person(s) they are directed against as riding backwards; if groups of people are depicted, they might also engage in the 'typical' habit of occupying themselves with the animal's behind, shoving seals or money pouches into its hindquarters, or devouring its excrement" ("Laughing at the Beast" in Laughter in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, ed. A. Classen (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010), p. 351). Donkeys are commonly depicted eating thistles; in the 16th century, this image also becomes emblematic of miserliness or the failure to appreciate the good things in one's possession: cf. emblem 86 in Andrea Alciati's Emblemata. (The anagram "Nasus/As(i)nus," used in this work, may also have influenced the choice of mount.) The pigs pursuing the donkey's droppings require no further comment. The rider is tonsured and dressed as a friar and bears a shield which identifies him as Johannes Nas. The upper portion of the shield shows a pair of scissors, three needles, and a thimble. Johannes Nas began life as a tailor and included a pair of shears on his episcopal arms; they are common in satirical depictions of him: cf. this image and this image. Here the tailor's tools are accompanied by a goat, negatively associated with lasciviousness and stubbornness (cf. Wiedl, p. 353, and the entry "Goat" in H.B. Werness, The Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in Art (New York: Continuum, 2006)).
Established heading: Henricus, Nicolaus, fl. 1557-1597
Penn Libraries call number: GC55 Sch955 570v
Scatalogical woodcut illustration accompanying a poem characterizing the Roman Catholic polemicist Johannes Nas as an ass. Used by Nicolaus Henricus of Oberursel
Scatalogical woodcut illustration accompanying a poem characterizing the Roman Catholic polemicist Johannes Nas as an ass. Used by Nicolaus Henricus of Oberursel.
Birgit Wiedl notes that the Eselritt (ass-ride), like the Sauritt (sow-ride), "is the typical feature of a type of pamphlet that is known as Schandbild or Schmähbrief ('defamatory picture/letter') that ... show the person(s) they are directed against as riding backwards; if groups of people are depicted, they might also engage in the 'typical' habit of occupying themselves with the animal's behind, shoving seals or money pouches into its hindquarters, or devouring its excrement" ("Laughing at the Beast" in Laughter in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, ed. A. Classen (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010), p. 351). Donkeys are commonly depicted eating thistles; in the 16th century, this image also becomes emblematic of miserliness or the failure to appreciate the good things in one's possession: cf. emblem 86 in Andrea Alciati's Emblemata. (The anagram "Nasus/As(i)nus," used in this work, may also have influenced the choice of mount.) The pigs pursuing the donkey's droppings require no further comment. The rider is tonsured and dressed as a friar and bears a shield which identifies him as Johannes Nas. The upper portion of the shield shows a pair of scissors, three needles, and a thimble. Johannes Nas began life as a tailor and included a pair of shears on his episcopal arms; they are common in satirical depictions of him: cf. this image and this image. Here the tailor's tools are accompanied by a goat, negatively associated with lasciviousness and stubbornness (cf. Wiedl, p. 353, and the entry "Goat" in H.B. Werness, The Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in Art (New York: Continuum, 2006)).
Established heading: Henricus, Nicolaus, fl. 1557-1597
Penn Libraries call number: GC55 Sch955 570v