THE TEXTUAL SOURCE FOR PHILIPS GALLE'S HEAD OF A REVELLER

In recent years, Philips Galle's (1537—1612) intriguing engraving of a Head of a Reveller, published c. 1560 by Maarten Peeters in Antwerp, has continued to draw attention from various scholars, most recently in these pages (xxxv, 2018, pp. 47—49; fig. 286). While eight lines of German verses beginning 'If you laugh with me, then I will resemble you . so be silent', were added to the plate in the second half of the seventeenth century, hitherto no textual source for this inscription or the original image was known. The fascinating engraving can, however, be connected to several biblical passages, more specifically from the Book of Proverbs, that deal with folly and probably circulated in contemporary oral culture.