Book Title: Spiegel van het menselyk bedrijf : in kleuren vertoond met honderd verbeeldingen, van ambachten, konsten, hanteeringen en bedryven, met verzen / Jan en Kasper Luiken.

Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712

Image Title: The Bricklayer: The bad neighbor Demands a wall

Scripture Reference:

• Proverbs 4 (further images / scripture text)

Description: A bricklayer is in the process of putting a brick into the wall he is building around a house. A worker, known as a hod-carrier, brings more mortar; in the background is a cement mixer. The Dutch artist and poet, Jan Luiken (1649-1712), was responsible for drawing this emblem and for creating the motto and poem that follow. Jan Luiken and/or his son Casper Luiken (1672-1708) were responsible for its etching. The attendant scripture text is Proverbs 4:23. Motto: The bad neighbor / Demands a wall. Poem: Man puts a wall around his temporary life, /To be surrounded in case of danger, / And the eternal part lies often exposed, /Like a border town without walls, /To be plundered by enemy’s attacks, / And threatened by eternal death. (Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker).

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