A man sleeps by a hot stove; a devil blows evil thoughts into his ear; Venus gestures towards the stove, and Cupid learns to walk on stilts in the foreground. Engraving by A. Dürer, ca. 1497-1498.

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<p>Already known in 1609 as "Der traümende Doctor" (the dreaming doctor). However, Panofsky  compares the subject with a description of the sin of sloth by Sebastian Brandt's Ship of fools (1494): "A sluggard is no use except to be a hibernating dormouse and to be allowed a full measure of sleep. To sit by the stove is his delight … But the Evil One takes advantage of laziness and soon sows his seeds therein. Laziness is the root of all sin. It caused the children of Israel to grumble. David committed adultery and murder because he lolled in idleness"</p>

A man sleeps by a hot stove; a devil blows evil thoughts into his ear; Venus gestures towards the stove, and Cupid learns to walk on stilts in the foreground. Engraving by A. Dürer, ca. 1497-1498.

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