Minneapolis Institute of Art

Moresca Dancers Surrounding a Sausage Seller

Daniel Hopfer

Date

c. 1490–1536

Medium

Etching

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Augsburg artist Daniel Hopfer was one of the first practitioners of the medium of etching. He etched armor before producing impressions of etchings on paper. In this entertaining print, he represents seven boorish men dancing around a goitered old woman who holds up a jug of beer and spit with seven sausages. The bells tied around the dancers’ wrists and ankles indicates they are taking part in a Morris dance—a Medieval courting dance—which Hopfer parodies through the participants’ grotesque appearance, drunken behavior, and exaggerated age. Germany, Europe

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