L'Arboro della Pazzia

This etching describes in thirty scenes the dangerous aspects of human interactions, professions or activities. It has a satirical & moralizing purpose. The scene ends with the stoning of the fool.

This print follows the tradition of humanist books on folly. It was preceded by the famous Praise of Folly written by Erasmus and by the Fools' Ship published by Sebastian Brant. 

Contemporary to this print was Tomaso Garzoni's Hospital of Incurable Madness (1586) which also attempted to classify and describe the numerous varieties of follies. Garzoni's categories include: "the frenetic or delirious", "the idiots and air-heads", "the love-mad", "the buffoon"...

References

Calabritto, Monica, Introduction to the English translation of Tomaso Garzoni’s L’hospedale de’ pazzi incurabili/The Hospital of Incurable Madness by Daniela Pastina and John Crayton (Tempe, Arizona: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2009), p. 1-33.