Mensheid wordt door de duivel geketend 1550

Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert made this print, ‘Mankind Ensnared by the Devil’, using etching around the year 1585 in the Netherlands. The print shows a nude man with his hands clasped in prayer, but he is bound by ropes and chains controlled by a devilish figure. The image creates meaning through visual codes familiar to Coornhert’s contemporary viewers. We might consider the religious and political upheavals of the Netherlands at this time. Coornhert was critical of both the Catholic Church and radical Protestant sects. His writings championed religious tolerance, but also emphasized personal discipline and rational thought. Here, he seems to be making an argument about self-governance, perhaps suggesting that humanity must free itself from the deceptive snares of fanaticism. To fully understand this print, we can examine Coornhert's writings and the historical context of religious debates in the 16th-century Netherlands. By studying the visual language and intellectual history of the time, we see how art can be a powerful form of social commentary.