De geldzuchtige wereld, 1664 1664

Editor: So, this is *The Greedy World*, a 1664 etching by an anonymous artist. It’s packed with figures, and the whole thing has a distinctly frantic feel to it. All those coins and characters seem almost chaotic! What jumps out at you when you look at it? Curator: The chaos is intentional, I believe. Think about the enduring symbolism of money itself – what does it truly represent across cultures and time? It can signify security, freedom, or even obsession and corruption, as it appears to here. How do these different narratives function in the image? Editor: I guess the artist is trying to show that money can be a really corrupting influence? There are so many little scenes of people fighting over coins, and someone literally enthroned on what looks like a globe filled with struggling figures... Curator: Precisely! This alludes to a symbolic worldview where material wealth sits atop suffering, right? What happens when an item of exchange comes to take on a religious weight? Can you see echoes of other "enthroned" figures elsewhere in the image, maybe subtly mocking religious iconography? Editor: You mean like, with the halos made of coins? It's definitely poking fun at traditional religious imagery. Instead of saints, we have merchants and hoarders… Curator: And notice how that figure on the globe sits right at the centre of the composition. It seems to tell a specific story doesn't it, almost as if these different actions are consequences for allowing the corrupting presence of money to take root. I see an inversion of spiritual worth. Does it affect how you view your own culture or others? Editor: That makes a lot of sense. I never thought about how deeply ingrained these kinds of messages could be in images. Curator: Indeed. Even centuries later, those ingrained cultural memories still shape how we interpret the world around us, whether we realize it or not. Editor: Thanks, this print suddenly feels less chaotic, and more like a coded message about humanity itself.