The World Turned Upside Down

Allegory on the upside-down world with Democritus and Heraclitus (the laughing and the weeping philosopher). Heraclitus has his eyes sadly lowered while the laughing Democritus points to a globe. On the globe the foolishness of mankind is represented by fools amusing themselves with fighting, playing and loving. In the background a funeral procession and a wild sea with a sinking ship. On the globe sit the devil, the Fool personified by a fool and the female personification of Lust (Luxuria). In the upper corners angels with vanitas symbols. In the margin a twelve-line poem, in three columns, in German, and an eight-line poem, in two columns, in French.