The Blue Cloak, Frans Hogenberg, 1556 - 1560
etching, h 378mm × w 568mm More details
Prints like this, intended to be hung in homes and schools, usually wore out and were discarded. This engraving, only two surviving impressions of which are known, illustrates a selection of 43 proverbs. The main legend refers to an old Netherlandish saying for a husband who is cuckolded by his wife: ‘She gives her husband the blue cloak.’
