Titelprent: Het geachte leven van de luiwammes c. 1683

Giuseppe Maria Mitelli created this print, "Titelprent: Het geachte leven van de luiwammes", whose title translates to "The Esteemed Life of the Lazybones." Made in the 17th century, it's a satirical look at the privileges of leisure, but it invites us to consider who gets to be "lazy" and who is forced into labor. The print depicts a figure in bed, being fanned by another. A banner overhead praises the virtues of idleness. In a society deeply structured by class, gender, and obligation, such leisure would have been the domain of a select few, usually men of means. It presents a topsy-turvy world where indolence is not a vice but a virtue. But what does it mean to celebrate laziness? Whose labor is supporting this "esteemed life?" Perhaps Mitelli asks us to consider that celebrating laziness is a way of critiquing the rigid social structures of his time. Are we laughing with or at the "lazybones?" How does the print reveal not just personal choices but also the social conditions that shape who gets to rest, and who must work?