De luiaard mag niet mee eten na de oogst 1563 - 1579

Philips Galle created this engraving, "De luiaard mag niet mee eten na de oogst," sometime between 1552 and 1612. During this time the Netherlands was caught between the throes of the Reformation and mired in the Eighty Years' War. Galle's print depicts laborers enjoying the fruits of their harvest while a beggar is turned away. Galle’s print participates in a discourse about labor, charity, and the moral failings of the poor. Here we see this moral failing in the beggar’s very flesh: he’s emaciated, in tatters, and appears to be hunched over in supplication, while being denied sustenance. There is a tension here; the print demands we witness his abject condition and simultaneously denies him access to the feast, thus suggesting that the laborers have earned their keep and the beggar has not. The print's stark visual language contributes to a broader narrative about deservingness and exclusion. It compels us to reflect on the societal structures that determine who is fed and who is left hungry.