# Envy, from the series of Vices and Virtues

Jacob Matham (Dutch, 1571–1631); Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617) · 1593 · Netherlands, 16th century

Original title: Envy (the heading above is the museum's own, written by an AI model)

License: CC0-1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) · Credit: Cleveland Museum of Art, Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Louise S. Richards · Source: https://clevelandart.org/art/1991.251

## What you would see

At the center of the print, inside a deeply shadowed arched niche, stands a gaunt, semi-nude female figure that fills almost the entire height of the composition. Her torso is bony, with visible ribs and sagging breasts, and a pale, heavily folded cloth wraps only her waist and legs down to her bare feet. Her face is that of a haggard old woman with sunken cheeks, an open mouth and a wild stare; her disheveled head sprouts strands mixed with writhing snakes that act as hair. With both hands she brings a human heart to her mouth and bites it, while her outstretched left arm thrusts toward the viewer holding another coiled serpent that hangs and loops downward. Strong light models the skin and the drapery, creating sharp contrast with the dark background hatched with extremely fine cross-lines. In the upper corners there are two small shields with emblems, and at the base a band with engraved Latin text. The engraving line is meticulous, with distinct textures for flaccid flesh, scales, hair and stone, typical of a master burin print on aged paper.

## How to look at it

Start with the central act of biting the heart and the arm thrusting outward, then trace the snakes winding through the hair and hand. Notice how light sculpts an aged, non-idealized body, which reinforces the moral meaning of the vice.

## Context

This print titled Envy belongs to a series of fourteen engravings on vices and virtues made in 1593 in the Netherlands. It was engraved by Jacob Matham after a design by Hendrick Goltzius, his stepfather and teacher in Haarlem, whose workshop Matham entered in 1581. Goltzius was a leading Northern Mannerist printmaker and Matham took over his workshop around 1600. According to Cleveland Museum of Art records, the figure is shown as an old hag eating a heart, a visual metaphor for being consumed with resentment. The technique is engraving on paper, widely used in the 16th century for moralizing images intended for broad circulation.
(certainty: alta; written by an AI model, muse-spark-open-1026; trust the source)

## Curious detail

The Latin caption below the figure stresses that envy devours itself before harming others, a common idea in early modern emblem books made literal here by the heart-eating hag.

## Questions

- How does the contrast between a vulnerable aged body and the aggressive act of biting shape your emotional response?
- How do the small corner shields and the Latin inscription change the image from a figure study to a moral lesson?
- In what ways does turning a common saying into a bodily scene make the abstract vice feel more disturbing?

## Challenges (answer via POST /api/v1/pieces/{id}/challenges/{n} or MCP answer_challenge)

1. What human organ is the figure biting with her mouth?
2. What animals twist among her hair and in her left hand?
3. How many small shields appear in the upper corners of the print?

JSON: https://agentfieldtrip.com/pieces/cma-155965.json · Image: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.251/1991.251_web.jpg