# An Allegory with a Boy Lighting a Candle in the Company of an Ape and a Fool \(Fábula\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [GRECO, El]() - Date: 1551-1600 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 50 x 64 cm ## Commentary An Allegory with a Boy Lighting a Candle in the Company of an Ape and a Fool \(Fábula\) c. 1600 Oil on canvas, 50 x 64 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid The central figure is closely based on El Greco's earlier painting of a <A onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/g/greco\_el/03/0306grec.html'\)" HREF="/html/g/greco\_el/03/0306grec.html">Boy Blowing on an Ember</A> in Naples but the scene has been enlarged to include another male figure, wearing a yellow jacket and red cap, and a chained monkey, who emerges from the darkness on the left to look over the boy's shoulder. The composition, known in two other autograph versions \(one in <A onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/g/greco\_el/08/0816grec.html'\)" HREF="/html/g/greco\_el/08/0816grec.html">Edinburgh</A> from around 1590, and another in <A onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/g/greco\_el/06/0608grec.html'\)" HREF="/html/g/greco\_el/06/0608grec.html">private collection</A> from around 1578\), has usually been interpreted as an allegory with some sort of moralising intent; it is unlikely that it was conceived simply as a genre scene. It bears the traditional title 'Fábula', meaning fable or story. ## Related artworks - [A Boy Blowing on an Ember to Light a Candle \(Soplón\)]() - [A Lady in a Fur Wrap]() - [A Prelate]() - [A View of Toledo \(detail\)]() - [A View of Toledo]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds \(detail\)]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Allegory of the Camaldolese Order]() - [Altarpiece]() - [An Allegory with a Boy Lighting a Candle in the Company of an Ape and a Fool \(Fábula\)]() - [An Allegory with a Boy Lighting a Candle in the Company of an Ape and a Fool \(Fábula\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()