17th century GERMAN SCHOOL - Lot 127

17th century GERMAN SCHOOL Engraving Die Grohse Fische Fressen dei Kleinen (Big Fish Eat Little Fish) Numbered plate 18 Engraving size: 5 x 7 cm Paper dimensions : 7.4 X 9.5 cm Note: This 17thᵉ century German engraving, entitled Die Grohse Fische Fressen die Kleinen (Big fish eat the little ones), vividly illustrates the law of the strongest, a moralistic theme common in the Baroque period. The scene, in which large fish devour smaller ones under a distant sky where a ship appears, denounces the relationships of domination and the inequalities of human society through an animal metaphor. It was reproduced as early as the end of the XVIᵉ century: an engraving after Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1556-1557) entitled Die großen Fische fressen die kleinen is the most famous example.