Lycurgus, the famous Spartan lawgiver, stands in the foreground on the right and reads from a book. A market square with spectators can be seen in the background. Two dogs are let loose in the market square. One dog eats from a bowl of food prepared for them, the other dog runs after a released hare. The performance depicts a parable of Lycurgus. The lawgiver wanted to demonstrate the importance of education and trained two dogs from the same litter differently. One dog had to hunt for its food, while the other dog was always fed. When he released the two dogs in the forum of Sparta, the dogs behaved according to their upbringing. The parable appears in Plutarchus' Moralia (3:16). The print has a Latin text in the margin with explanations.
| Artist |
Jan Saenredam
RKD
|
|---|---|
|
Paulus Bernardus Mercator
|
|
| Title | Lycurgus reads from his treatise on the benefits of education |
| Date | 1596 |
| Period | 16th century |
| Location | Assendelft TGN |
| Medium and support | burin engraving AAT |
| Collection | print room |
| Object type | burin engraving AAT |
| Inventory number | 2014-NE-1 |
| Acquisition credit |
unknown
2014 |
| Current whereabouts | Work currently not on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/2014-NE-1 |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/11735/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300189808
figures (representations)
AAT
300015571 cityscapes (representations) AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
25F26(HARE)
rodents: hare
Iconclass
25I city-view, and landscape with man-made constructions Iconclass 25I12 prospect of city, town panorama, silhouette of city Iconclass 31A231 standing figure Iconclass 31A71 male sex; man Iconclass 31D16 old man Iconclass 34A3 training of dogs Iconclass 34B11 dog Iconclass 41A1 civic architecture; edifices; dwellings Iconclass 41A14 urban housing Iconclass 41C111 giving food Iconclass 42A461 parental care Iconclass 42A56 growing up Iconclass 43C11 hunting, chase Iconclass 43C1147 hunting dogs Iconclass 44C34 politician, e.g. party leader Iconclass 44G law and jurisprudence Iconclass 48(+431) art (+ copy, copying ~ work of art) Iconclass 48A712 the audience ~ art performance Iconclass 61B2 historical persons Iconclass 61E(SPARTA) names of cities and villages (SPARTA) Iconclass 98B(LYCURGUS) (story of) Lycurgus, the Spartan Iconclass 98B(LYCURGUS)51 Lycurgus, the Spartan, demonstrates the importance of good education by comparing the behaviour of two dogs: one eats from his dish, the other chases a hare Iconclass |
| School / Style | Renaissance AAT |
|
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