Pau

By Pau

cow and wolf playing backgammon

First half of the 16th century.
It is an old painting that represents tension between Protestants and Catholics.
What is still visible is a spectacles wearing cow lying in front of a backgammon (in mediaval times Tric Trach) board. To the left of the board there appears the grey snout of a wolf, and behind it there's the fragmented figure of a man, dressed in red, using a sort of brush to chase away a fly from before the cow's eyes. According to the inscriptions they weren't playing just for fun. They had put up their skin as a stake! Another inscription identified the man in red as a furrier who, in the company of a now lost hunter, was eagerly awaiting the end of the game. The fly symbolise the greedy lawyers who take the winner's side at the right time ...

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