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Mirror of Deceit
Public domain

Mirror of Deceit

Theodoor Galle · 1610 · engraving; paper

From the collection of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.

About this work

In the foreground a fox blows a soap bubble that has the shape of the world. In the background examples of earthly deceit: a woman looking in a mirror, a jester looking through a mirror at the moon, a painter depicting an angel as a devil, a chameleon. The print has a Latin inscription: 'Fallacus speculi cauesis te ludat imago: non aurum est, quidquid bractea fulua tegit'. At the bottom a legend of the scenes which are numbered alphabetically on the image. The print is part of a twelve-print series (II out of XII prints) with the subject twelve mirrors with which man tries to see God.

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam’s own description
Credit lineSpiegel der Bedrog. 1610. Theodoor Galle. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Public domain.

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