This library is built in the open.
If you spot an error, have a suggestion, or just want to say hello — we’d love to hear from you.
Wikimedia Commons · CC0 1.0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileA man in late 16th-century Dutch attire and a woman in a fur-trimmed gown with an elaborate ruff face each other to finalize a union. Between them stands a horned, cloven-hoofed demon with an androgynous form, exhaling a stream of gold coins toward the woman. The man holds a heavy money pouch, signifying that their bond is founded on material wealth rather than spiritual devotion.
This engraving is a moralizing allegory on the corruption of marriage through avarice, a common theme in Northern Renaissance social satire. It visualizes the 'Cacodemon' as a psychological agent of spiritual blindness, connecting the pursuit of worldly riches to diabolical deception.
Divitiæ turpes, et quos opulentia iungit, Falluntur misere vafro cacodæmonis astu.
Translation
Base riches, and those whom opulence joins, Are miserably deceived by the cunning craft of the evil spirit.
Sebastian Brant
The print draws on the satirical tradition established in 'The Ship of Fools,' which catalogs human follies and the moral dangers of greed.
Object
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
height 235 mm x width 160 mm
allegory
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.