# The Nobleman is the Spider and the Peasant is the Fly

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/lagniet-jacques-rf6073957a10a8d/the-nobleman-is-the-spider-and-the-peasant-is-the-fly-re65a06a052c027>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [LAGNIET, Jacques](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/lagniet-jacques-rf6073957a10a8d>)
- Date: 1651-1700
- Technique: Engraving

## Commentary

Jacques Lagniet, a printmaker, was active on quai de la Mégisserie in Paris after 1650. He produced various series of Proverbes, published between 1657 and 1663. In the engraving reproduced here he adopted a harsh tone; in a clear and simple layout he employed the accusing, if resigned, tone of moralizing broadsheets: Nobles are spiders, peasants are flies.

## Related artworks

- [Don Quixote and Sancho Pansa](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/lagniet-jacques-rf6073957a10a8d/don-quixote-and-sancho-pansa-r8d0a6699885703>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)