Holbein the Younger (1497–1543), famed for his portraits and his satirical Dance of Death woodcuts, also lent his hand to the margins of Erasmus’s celebrated text In Praise of Folly ( Moriae Encomium ). First published in 1511, Erasmus’s witty essay personifies Folly as a woman who praises her own influence over popes, princes, scholars, and common folk alike. It became one of the defining works of Renaissance humanism, mocking vanity and corruption with laughter rather tha