The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 18, 2025
Stultitiam patiuntur opes (Wealth permits Stupidity), or, Allegory of Wealth, Lust, and Stupidity
1588
printer
(Flemish, 1560/61–1628/32)
after Joos Van Winghe
Image: 29.2 x 35.8 cm (11 1/2 x 14 1/8 in.); Sheet: 31.4 x 37.1 cm (12 3/8 x 14 5/8 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 2017.199
Location: Not on view
Description
In this pointed visual allegory, a king who personifies wealth counts his money at a table while a jester places a fool’s hat over his head. His female counterpart, distracted by her aged reflection in a mirror, displays her vanity in her luxurious clothing, lap dog, and hangers-on: flattery fans her, and stupidity, with a boar’s head, serves her food and drink. Such allegories were meant to both entertain while cautioning the viewer to question their own relationship to wealth.- Peters, Emily J. and Wehn, James. “Acquisition Highlights: Prints.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 58, no. 2 (March/April 2018): 14-15. Reproduced: P. 15; Mentioned: P. 14-15 archive.org
- {{cite web|title=Stultitiam patiuntur opes (Wealth permits Stupidity), or, Allegory of Wealth, Lust, and Stupidity|url=false|author=Raphael Sadeler, Joos Van Winghe|year=1588|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2017.199