Hans Holbein

Anthony Grafton is the Henry Putnam University Professor of History at Princeton University. Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536) was a Dutch humanist, scholar, and social critic, and one of the most important figures of the Renaissance. The Praise of Folly is perhaps his best-known work. Originally written to amuse his friend Sir Thomas More, this satiric celebration of pleasure, youth, and intoxication irreverently pokes fun at the pieties of theologians...

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. The Praise of Folly is the most enduring and popular work of one of the greatest Renaissance humanists, Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. Immensely popular in its own day, the work is a witty and often biting satire that offers an ironic appreciation of human vice and frivolity. The Praise of Folly , however, is not only an entertaining indictment of social mores,...

"This publication was prepared to accompany the exhibition Holbein: Capturing Character, scheduled to open at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, in 2021, and at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, in 2022. The catalogue explores Hans Holbein's approach to portraiture and self-identity in the Renaissance"--