The Disorderly Household
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: The Disorderly Household
Scripture Reference:
- John 6 (further images / scripture text)
Description: Two persons bring a number of platters with sumptuous food which they dump in the trough of the pigsty [Flesh and Blood]. On the background left a large family [the Soul] house. The Dutch artist and poet Jan Luiken (1649-1712), whose initials are at the lower right, was responsible for drawing and etching this emblem and for the poem that accompanies it (below). The attendant scripture text is John 6:27.
Poem:
Curiosity, lend me your ears,
You will hear something strange;
Thou thinkest not what, nor knowest not how:
There is a House on no road,
Substantial and pleasantly situated,
Where strange things happen.
One cooks and bakes there every day,
Whatever is tasty and pleasurable,
The best from the Market and the House:
And these wonderful dishes,
So prepared in many ways,
Go all to the Pigsty;
And are thrown in the trough,
So that the pigs will eat happily,
And the family suffers starvation;
Looks thin, dry and goes here and there,
Chews rye bread, gnaws bare bones,
And drinks water from the ditch.
But possibly you are confident,
In holding this tale for an untruth:
Wishest thou to see such a house;
And dost thou ask, where it might be located?
One will tell thee something more;
There are thousands besides that one.
However, to unfurl the entrance for thee:
The family is the Soul;
The Pigsty is the flesh and blood;
Now thou shalt easily be able to find it.
(Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker)
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