Maestro della Fertilità dell'Uovo

Maestro della Fertilità dell'Uovo (Master of Egg Fertility) is the designation given to an unknown artist who worked in Brescia during the second half of the seventeenth & early eighteenth centuries. The term comes from a painting called La Fertilità dell'Uovo (Egg Fertility), which depicts dwarfs, geese, & crabs producing eggs.

Maestro della Fertilità dell'Uovo's identity has yet to be discovered. Some art historians believe it was Cremona's Bernardino Deho (1675-1717), while others believe it was Angelo Esseradts, also known as 'il Fiammingo.'

This master's works frequently include grotesque creatures, such as dwarfs & animals, engaged in various human occupations. The pieces are marked by a severe foreshortening & a general disregard for space.

The actions & reactions of the people & animals in the compositions are disorderly. The compositions are full of strange & grotesque components, making it difficult to follow what is going on. The master's noisy style is a type of "moral zoology." The ludicrous characters may be meant to depict both the craziness of human existence & the vanity & folly of life.

A banner with a mysterious phrase that apparently reveals the composition's subject is frequently included with the artworks. Of a pair of paintings sold at Sotheby’s, one is inscribed Son Capporal Dei Matti Ch osseruo beni patti (I am corporal of the fools that well observes the rules) while the other is inscribed Assai Ben Balla A chi fortuna Suona (he dances well enough who fortune plays for).