The shaving of the fool

In a room, a woman sits on the lap of a man embracing her. In one hand she holds a glass of wine, the other she inserts into his purse. The hostess holds the tally stick. In the foreground, a man indicated by his fool's staff as a fool or madman is being shaved by a barber. Below the image, a two-line verse in French and Dutch. 'The shaving of the fool' was a common ritual at fool's festivals in the 16th century: the shaving of criminals, vagabonds, and fools, so that they were recognizable as such.