Getting started with the collection:
The Egg Dance
Pieter Aertsen, 1552
At right, in this brothel, a young man does an egg dance to the music of a bagpiper. While dancing, he had to roll an egg within a chalk circle – without it breaking – and to cover it with a wooden bowl. This ‘pointless’ amusement, along with the dissolute behaviour of the other figures, served as a moral warning against debauchery.
- Artwork typepainting
- Object numberSK-A-3
- Dimensionsheight 84 cm x width 172 cm, weight 20.5 kg
- Physical characteristicsoil on panel