Getty Museum
The Fool and a Demon
Creator
Master of Jean de MandevilleFrench Illuminator · 1350–1370
All works by this person →The Master of Jean de Mandeville, an anonymous French illuminator, is thus known for his work on a manuscript of *Mandeville's Travels* now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. A prolific court artist, he worked in France in the circle of King John the Good and King Charles V from around 1350 to 1370. He often painted the costumes of his slight figures in grisaille and rendered the figures' faces
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1360–1370
- Medium
- Tempera colors, gold, and ink
- Culture
- French
- Department
- Manuscripts
- Institution
- Getty Museum
- Object ID
- af03fe42-8d20-456d-95b5-29599710639d
*The fool says in his heart 'There is no God.'* (Psalm 52) In a miniature prefacing Psalm 52, the illuminator represents the poem's imagery literally. The "fool" of the text appears here as the lunatic figure familiar during the Middle Ages: shoeless, wearing rags, and carrying a club. He holds an unidentifiable object, perhaps a stone, to his mouth; from this he can draw no nourishment, a visual analogy to the denial of God's existence. In the medieval period, lunacy was seen as a punishment inflicted by the devil. In the upper right corner of the miniature, a small demon crouches before the swirling gold decorative patterns, either the cause of the fool's lunacy or, perhaps, the agent inspiring the fool's denial.
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