VIII Doleur non pareille 1614

This engraving by Roemer Visscher, titled "VIII Doleur non pareille," was made in the Netherlands around the turn of the 17th century. It comes from a book of emblems, images paired with mottoes and explanatory texts, that were extremely popular at the time. Here we see a hand squeezing a near-empty money bag, set against stormy clouds. The French phrase "Doleur non pareille" translates to "sorrow beyond compare." It's a commentary on the anxieties of a burgeoning merchant class, whose fortunes were tied to overseas trade and volatile markets. Visscher critiques the social structure of his time by portraying the Guild brothers and their families cast out from their homes when money runs dry. To understand this image better, one might research the economic history of the Dutch Golden Age, the role of guilds in Dutch society, and the popularity of emblem books as a form of social commentary. The meaning of art, you see, is contingent on its social and institutional context.