Aesop's Heritage

Aesop's Heritage explores the evolution of the Aesopian fable in France and the Low Countries from 1500 to 1800, examining the intricate relationship between text, illustration, and education. The main drivers of this evolution were the French fable books of the 1540s, the fable illustrations by Marcus Gheeraerts, and, of course, the fables of Jean de La Fontaine. The book sheds new light on a number of well-known and lesser-known works, including an Aesop painting by Roelant Savery; Flemish wall tapestries with fable motifs; John Ogilby and his illustrators (Stoop, Cleyn, Hollar, Barlow); Oudry's fable illustrations and paintings; and the prolific production of illustrated fable books for children in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century France.