Minneapolis Institute of Art

Man is threatened by poverty, imprisonment and death, plate #5 from The Misery of Human Life

Philips Galle; after Maarten van Heemskerck

Date

1563

Medium

Etching

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A woman in tattered clothing walks with the aid of a crutch and carries a begging bowl and an empty basket. A man walks with his hands manacled, with chains going from the cuffs, bewteen his legs, and presumably up his back to the iron collar around his neck. Finally a man is tripping, and having dropped his sword is about to fall on it, impaling himself. In the background, a clifftop castle is on fire and a mn is falling from the cliff. At right, a dead body floats down a river. Such are the perils of life: poverty, imprisonment, and death. This is the fifth print in a series of six that studies the misery of human life. The images were designed by Maarten van Heemskerck and engraved by Philips Galle. Each is accompanied by Latin verses by the learned Dutch polymath Hadrianus Junius (1511-1575), with further verses in French and Dutch below. Flanders, Europe

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