The Life of the Poor
This mid-seventeenth-century painting by the Dutch artist Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne depicts the poor peasant weighed down by his wife and child. An empty food bowl signifies their hunger. In reality, many poor men abandoned their homes in search of work, leaving their wives behind to cope with hungry children and what remained of the family farm. What did the artist intend to convey about women? (Allegory of Poverty, 1630s [oil on panel] by Adriaen Pietersz van Jenne [1589–1662] / Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, USA / Mrs. F. F. Prentiss Fund, Bridgeman Images.)