"The Fool that Tried to Please Everybody."

Title

"The Fool that Tried to Please Everybody."

Description

1912 "The Fool that Tried to Please Everybody." Illustration by Byam Shaw and text on p. 21 in "Libby's Annual" for 1912. $13.50 on Ebay, Dec. 20, '06.

The original painting, according to the article, is in the Lang Art Gallery. Shaw died in 1919. The painting is a more detailed presentation of MSA than I believe I have ever seen elsewhere. Libby's comment is excellent.

This is a piece of pure comedy, carried out with zest to the last detail. The fables of Aesop are of no time or place: their shrewd wisdom applies wherever human nature exists. The story of the old man and his son and the ass can be traced to an Oriental source thousands of years old; but it is just as true in the yard of an eighteenth-century English inn, where Mr. Shaw has so delightfully placed it. The first great lesson an amiable man has to learn in life is that good advisers are often completely contradictory; and, moreover, that those who give advice will, if he takes it, often be the first to despise him for having no mind of his own. First (in the fable) they walked with the donkey; next, the boy rode it; then: to please the critics, the old man got on it. That would not do, so they both rode it. Accused of cruelty, they finally carried it between them. Here we see them struggling into the inn yard with their burden, accompanied by a procession of jeering small boys, to the huge amusement of the village worthies and gossips. Mr. Shaw has given us much more than an illustration of the fable. It is a delightful picture of old English life and character.

Date

1912

Source

$13.50 on Ebay, Dec. 20, '06.

Subject

Printed Materials See all items with this value

Separated Book Pages See all items with this value

Individual Book Pages See all items with this value

The Miller, His Son, and Their Ass See all items with this value