“Wenceslaus Hollar – The Sun and the Wind (1665) | Original 17th-Century Etching from Aesop’s Fables”

The Sun and the Wind

Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677)

Etching, circa 1665

From The Fables of Aesop Paraphras’d in Verse by John Ogilby

Plate-signed and numbered 65 | Approx. 21 × 16.5 cm

In this etching, Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677) illustrates one of Aesop’s most beloved fables — The Sun and the Wind, also known as The North Wind and the Sun. In the story, the Wind and the Sun compete to make a traveller remove his cloak. The Wind’s bluster only makes the man clutch it tighter, while the Sun’s gentle warmth persuades him to shed it. The moral, gentle persuasion can win over brute strength.