12″x16″, Acrylic on Wood Panel, October 2008

This painting is loosely based on an etching by the brilliant but relatively obscure Lucas van Leyden, The Beggars (Uilenspiegel), done in 1520 in the Netherlands (a print of which was later bought by Rembrandt van Rijn for the large sum of 179 florins). The image is based on the Germanic character ‘Till Eulenspiegel’, a trickster who played practical jokes to expose greed, hypocrisy, and foolishness. The name is said to come from the Low German ul’n Spegel which literally means “wipe the ass”, but later became “Owl and Mirror” — thus the owl in the painting.

There’s also a spiritual subtext;

“On Earth we are beggars, as Christ Himself was.”

That preaching from Luther influenced many at the time — that the Son of God chose the flesh of a beggar, rather than that of a king.