An Allegory with a Boy Lighting a Candle in the Company of an Ape and a Fool (Fabula)  1590

Oil on canvas
67 x 89 cm The composition is known in three autograph versions and 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 'Fabula', meaning fable or story.