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Original fileMisbruik van de procesvoering
About This Work
In a busy harbor filled with merchant ships and cargo, two men shake hands on a deal while the female personifications of Deceit (Fallacia) and Fraud (Fraus) stand behind them, manipulating the transaction. To their left, an incompetent notary sits atop bales of wool, attempting to record the proceedings while wearing a blindfold. The foreground is dominated by large barrels and bales marked with merchant symbols, while a city wall and harbor machinery frame the background.
As part of a series on the 'Abuses of the Law,' this work reflects the late 16th-century Haarlem Mannerist focus on moral philosophy and civic ethics. It utilizes the emblem tradition to illustrate the Neoplatonic and Humanist concern that the lack of internal virtue (blindness to truth) leads to the corruption of the social and natural order.