IJzeren eeuw, 1728
Hendrick Goltzius

This painting vividly depicts life during the Iron Age. In the foreground, the god Mars is seen with his squire. Before them lie a burning torch, a cannon with balls, weapon gloves, a signaling trumpet, and a drum. The landscape behind Mars is fraught with violence and crime - someone is being stabbed, fights are breaking out, and a man hangs from a gallows to the left. Land surveyors are busy dividing the land into pieces. To the lower left, treasures of the earth like gold are being carted off in wheelbarrows. The figure of Lady Justice is seen departing from God in the upper right, leaving behind an earth smeared with crime. Below the scene are four lines of Latin verse. This print is part of an album.

Copyright: Public domain