The Ship of Fools

This is a repost of an online exhibition of Sebastian Brant's Narrenschiff, which was originally published in 1494 and went through several subsequent editions over the next couple decades.  Historically significant for being one of the earliest "bestsellers" of the early print age, it is also one of the early commissions of a young Albrect Durer.

By satirically taking the voice of "Folly", the author had a sort of poetic license to criticize the social institutions of his day and what he viewed as the political and religious corruption around him.  This is one of many examples of the sense of disillusionment felt by many intellectuals of the time, especially in Northern Europe.

The Ship of Fools was a common allegory of the time that went after the much wider theme of how human temptation leads the leaders of society astray.