Allegorie op de hebzucht 1546 - 1588

Curator: So, this engraving, “Allegorie op de hebzucht” or “Allegory of Avarice”, created by Remigius Hogenberg sometime between 1546 and 1588, is quite interesting. Editor: Yes, the sheer volume of detail is remarkable! The figures pulling the cart, the bulging sacks… it really emphasizes a feeling of intense labor. How would you interpret it? Curator: I see a very deliberate commentary on the systems of production and consumption within this period. Observe the landscape itself – notice the division between those who seem to profit, consuming food around a fire, and those burdened, literally weighed down, collecting material to add to the literal cart full of things to consume? The materials tell the story – from the trees which had to be felled to construct homes, the charcoal they use for fire. Everything is laid out for consumption. Editor: So, you are saying it's less about the individual failing of greed, but more about showing a whole cycle of resources to greed? Curator: Precisely! It critiques the whole societal apparatus. Even the medium of engraving, with its accessibility, comments on widespread distribution and thus, perhaps, accessibility of consumer goods even back then. Do you think the method of creating copies also reinforces this idea? Editor: That’s a clever way to put it – yes, printing makes it a commodity of sorts. Curator: It asks who benefits from these structures and who bears the literal weight of its process. This isn't just about moral failing, but the social machine perpetuating this uneven labor and value distribution. Editor: I never would have looked at an engraving this way before. Curator: Now you might begin seeing those material conditions represented in any type of image from today and yesterday. The world isn’t just a product to sell!