Sleepless Nights for the Accuser: Abuse in Litigation

A man distracted by legal troubles is unable to find rest, depicted by the figure 'Anxious Care' violently chasing 'Sleep' (Sopor) from the room. Beside the bed, 'Restlessness of Heart' holds a candle and a mirror to disturb the man's peace, while a rooster in the foreground signals the arrival of a weary morning. The scene uses personified figures to map the internal psychological torment of a mind obsessed with worldly disputes and greed.

This work reflects the late 16th-century Neo-Stoic and Neoplatonic preoccupation with the 'disturbed soul' and the need to regulate the passions. It illustrates the moral-philosophical concept that worldly attachments, specifically litigation and avarice, disrupt the natural harmony of the microcosm, a theme common in the circle of Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert and the Haarlem Mannerists.