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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileafter Hendrick Goltzius
The central figure is a corpulent woman representing the vice of Gluttony, holding a platter with a roasted bird and a heavy ornamental ewer. At her feet lies a pig, a traditional iconographic animal associated with overindulgence and lack of restraint. The landscape in the background features rolling hills and distant architecture, rendered with the rhythmic, swelling lines characteristic of the engraver's style.
As part of a series on the Seven Deadly Sins, this print reflects the moralizing tradition of the Northern Renaissance, rooted in the Aristotelian concept of temperance and the Christian struggle against vice. It illustrates the physical and moral degradation associated with excess, a frequent theme in the didactic literature and emblem books of the late 16th century.
Lauta Gula facies, et splendida mensa Lyæi, Heu quot præcipites dat, dedit, atq[ue] dabit.
Translation
The luscious feast, and the splendid table of Bacchus, Alas, how many headlong they cast, have cast, and shall cast.
Prudentius
His work Psychomachia established the tradition of personifying the battle between Virtues and Vices in Western art and literature.
Cesare Ripa
His Iconologia codified the use of the pig and specific vessels as attributes for the personification of Gluttony.
Object
Noord-Hollands Archief, Haarlem
Engraving
allegory
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
https://hdl.handle.net/21.12102/bbe7c1e8-7683-59fa-7fed-3e67ab506f8a
Public domain
2472 × 3690 px
9128275635f564bb520459895bbc8aee768f699f
April 19, 2019
March 23, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.