Jupiter met adelaar, geflankeerd door twee fantasiewezens gekleed in een pij, met lange (ezels)oren c. 1560

Etienne Delaune created this engraving of Jupiter and his eagle, flanked by fantastical figures, in the 16th century. Delaune, working in France during a time of religious and political upheaval, uses classical imagery to explore themes of power and authority. Jupiter, the Roman king of the gods, stands as a symbol of order, but the strange, hooded figures at his sides inject a note of the carnivalesque, even the grotesque. Consider the culture of religious institutions at this time. Are these figures a commentary on religious devotion? Delaune may be suggesting that those in power are surrounded by fools or are fools themselves. To fully understand the meaning of this image, a historian would research the cultural significance of classical mythology in 16th-century France, as well as the social and political role of religious institutions. The meaning of art is never fixed, but is always contingent on social and institutional context.