| This print is based on the ancient theory that four fluids or "humours" control our being. These fluids: blood, yellow gall or bile, black gall, and phlegm, change their balance in our systems according to the time of day, the seasons, and times of life. Each of the figures in the etching personifies a humour. The "comedy of humours" was popular in Elizabethan theater and was extensively developed in the plays of Ben Jonson. |
Click the back button on your browser to return to the thumbnails.
Biography C.V. Paintings Home