Getty Museum

Job on the Dung Hill

Date

1581

Medium

Pen and black ink, and gray wash

Culture

Swiss

Department

Drawings

Institution

Getty Museum

His body covered with sores, the Old Testament hero Job sits on a heap of dung wearing only a loincloth. To the left stand his wife, hands impatiently on her hips, and his mocking friends. With long horns and a forked tongue, Satan claws at Job from behind. Armed figures steal Job's cattle in the background, while his children flee a burning house. God allowed Satan to devise this series of afflictions and humiliations to torment Job and test his faith. Werner Kuebler the Elder made this study for a stained-glass window, filling not only the circular central scene but also the surrounding frame with moralizing details. The figures of Patience, with a lamb, and Hope, with an anchor, perch on either side, references to the noble qualities that Job possessed. Lush bunches of fruit and vegetables ornament the design.

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