Allegory of Poverty

The painted inscription reads: "They are feeble legs which must carry poverty." In the 1630's after his move to The Hague, van de Venne began painting mainly grisailles (limited to a palette of mainly gray or brown tones) and some finished polychrome pictures, in which the figure dominates. A number of these scenes depict the everyday joys and sorrows of the lower social classes. His paintings poke fun at the mishaps and misconceptions of an ignorant peasantry, and at society in general. The pendant (or pair) to the Oberlin picture, An Allegory of Wealth (now lost) represented a dandy carrying a fashionable young woman who spills a glass of wine and frivolously scatters gold coins.