 The painting's original title, "The Blue Cloak or The Folly of the World", indicates that Bruegel's intent was not just to illustrate proverbs, but rather to catalog human folly.Many of the people depicted show the characteristic blank features that Bruegel used to portray fools.His son, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, specialised in making copies of his father's work and painted at least 16 copies of "Netherlandish Proverbs".