Dirck Volckertsz. Coornhert: Nobody can serve two masters (1556)

(Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

An engraving by the Dutch artist Dirck Volckertsz. Coornhert (1522 - 1590), after a design by the Dutch artist Willem Thibaut (1524-1597). This print comes from a set called ' the Folly of human life'. A fool is shown here on a hunt with a hunting dog and is chasing two rabbits. The rabbits split up, each in a different direction and the fool now has to choose which rabbit he will chase. The engraving is an allusion to the life on mankind. At a certain point each human has to choose between the hard and virtuous road which will lead to Paradise and the easy road of earthly desires which will lead to his destruction. At the bottom is a text in Latin and Dutch: " Een hert dat twee weghen in wil ghaen / en sal gheen voerspoet hebben, Sirach 3" - " A deer that wants to take two roads / and will have no prosperity". Engraving from 1556.