Dulle Griet

Dulle Griet

Pieter Bruegel the Elder
1563. Oil on canvas. 162 x 117 cm. Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp, Belgium.

A monumental allegory of human greed and madness rooted in Flemish folklore. The central figure is "Mad Meg" (Dulle Griet), a legendary shrew embodying absurd avarice—said in old proverbs to be so fierce she could "plunder Hell and return unscathed." Clad in male armor over a peasant dress, holding a sword and a basket stuffed with looted kitchenware, she marches fearlessly into the mouth of Hell. Followed by a mob of women beating demons for plunder, Meg's rampage serves as a dark satire on human folly amid Boschian apocalyptic chaos.

(source: wikidata.org)

Allegory Renaissance

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