Artist
French early 16th Century

1512–1515
French early 16th Century was a Renaissance artist. 33 works are cataloged here, principally at National Gallery of Art.
A French draftsman from the early 1500s filled sheets of laid paper with tiny, sharp-tongued instructions—ink sketches paired with warnings like “Do Not Eat Your Heart Out” or “Feed Not Things That Have Sharp Claws.” The playful yet precise drawings mix everyday cautions with a comic twist, all rendered in brown or black ink with a hint of watercolor. One sheet shows The Calumny of Apelles, borrowing a classical tale to poke at gossip. Turn the page to “You Are Tying a Dolphin by the Tail,” a whimsical reminder not to force your luck.
Works by French early 16th Century
"Always Have the Bedclothes Folded up" [fol. 41 recto]
A Dialogue on Human Favor (recto) [fol. 15 verso / 16 recto]
"I Am Holding a Wolf by the Ears" (verso)
"Turn Your Body as You Worship" [fol. 37 verso]
"Do Not Give Your Right Hand to All and Sundry" [fol. 13 recto]
A Courtier Standing Between Covetousness and Dissimulation [fol. 14 recto]
"Do Not Walk outside the Public Highway" [fol. 35 recto]
"Do Not Eat Your Heart Out" [fol. 22 recto]
"Help Him Who Takes up His Burden, Not Him Who Lays It down" [fol. 31 recto]
"Friendship Is Equality; A Friend Is Another Self" [fol. 10 recto]
"Do Not Sit on the Grain Measure" [fol. 12 recto]
Credulity Preparing to Nurse the Mother of Hope [fol. 18 verso]
Hope, Reaching for Heaven, Stands among Sad and Happy Men, Joys, and Fear [fol. 19 recto]
An Ape in Purple with a Sick Man, a Good Man, and a Miser [fol. 36 verso]
"Do Not Have Swallows under the Same Roof" [fol. 40 recto]
"Do Not Eat Beans" [fol. 25 recto]
"Do Not Wear a Tight-Fitting Ring" [fol. 23 recto]
"Turn aside the Sharp Sword" [fol. 44 recto]
"Do Not Break the Crown" [fol. 43 recto]
"Do Not Poke the Fire with a Sword" [fol. 20 recto]
"You Are Tying a Dolphin by the Tail" [fol. 17 recto]
A Fool Feeding Flowers to Swine [fol. 42 recto]
"Do Not Put Food in a Chamber Pot" [fol. 24 recto]
"Feed Not Things That Have Sharp Claws" [fol. 38 recto]
33 works in the catalog · 24 shown
Collections represented
Museum
The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of…