Avarice

An aged woman with a sharp, grasping expression stands in a niche, holding a large money pouch to her chest while several smaller purses hang from her arm. Two coats of arms at the top of the arch feature a frog and a griffin, animals traditionally associated with the guarding of treasure and moral impurity. The heavy drapery and muscular form reflect the late Mannerist style of the original designer, Hendrick Goltzius.

This work is part of a series on the Seven Deadly Sins, reflecting the Renaissance and early modern preoccupation with moral philosophy and the visual codification of human ethics. It connects to the Neoplatonic and Christian tradition of viewing physical decay and hoarding as the spiritual antithesis of divine abundance.