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#430

The Miserly Old Woman (Avaritia)

Bloemaert, Abraham (1566-1651) Workshop | Painter

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In the warm glow of a candle, an old woman sits at a table and counts the gold coins in her hand. The light of the flame falls on the wrinkled face, marked by life, which the Dutch painter Abraham Bloemaert stages in a genre-like-realistic manner. The bulging gold bag under her arm refers to Avaritia, the mortal sin of greed. Through the close-up and concise rendering of the figure, Bloemaert increases the clarity of the subject. The old woman leaning far forward directs her probing gaze directly at the viewer and thus seems to want to remind us of the transience of existence and the futility of hoarding earthly goods.

Material & Technique
Oil on oak panel
Museum
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
Dating
c. 1625
Inventory number
Gal.-Nr. 1252
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