De geldzuchtige wereld (The Money-Hungry World)

This Dutch engraving depicts a crowded, chaotic scene of human greed and folly. A corpulent figure sits enthroned atop a vessel overflowing with coins and goods, surrounded by struggling masses—clergy, merchants, peasants, and soldiers—all grasping for wealth. The composition recalls Bruegel's satirical density, layering dozens of vignettes of vice: gambling, theft, gluttony, and fraud. As an etched or engraved print with descriptive panels overhead, it exemplifies the Northern European moral satire tradition that preceded Hogarth. Rather than targeting a single politician, this work condemns universal human avarice across all social ranks. The crowded, episodic format and allegorical criticism of society's ills directly shaped the visual language of later caricaturists and comic narratives, establishing conventions for satirizing collective human behavior through densely populated, morally legible scenes.