Leaf out of Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant. Untitled. B/W woodcut illustration by Albrecht Dürer. Image: 4 5/8" x 3 3/8". Pictured in Vol 2 Albrecht Dürer: Das gesame graphische Werk Druckgraphik [Complete Graphic Works.] Page 1415. Ship of Fools was first published in 1494 in German. It was a satire of the Catholic Church and man's vices and weaknesses. Brant expored the reasons for man's behavior in a fallen world. It was the first printed book that used contemporaneous events and people in the story. It became the most successful book , excluding the bible, of the time. The publication contained woodcut illustrations by Albrect Dürer, who was a master engraver and printmaker and engraver, considered to be Germany's greatest Renaissance artist.