Artwork
I Mourn because the World is so Untrustworthy
I Mourn because the World is so Untrustworthy is an oil painting by the Northern Renaissance artist Pieter Brueghel the Younger. It dates from 1598 and is held in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
These visual elements illustrate the proverbial theme of theft and the untrustworthiness of the world, as suggested by the title.
The painting depicts a man, often identified as a cutpurse or thief, standing before an orb while holding a money bag. The figure is shown wearing a huik, a specific type of hood or cloak. These visual elements illustrate the proverbial theme of theft and the untrustworthiness of the world, as suggested by the title.
The work is an interpretation of the earlier composition known as The Misanthrope, translating its moralizing message into a genre scene that emphasizes human deceit and the loss of faith in society.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in oil paint on a panel support, a standard combination for small-scale Flemish cabinet paintings of the late sixteenth century. Its modest format, roughly 17 by 17 centimeters, is consistent with the intimate, finely detailed handling associated with Pieter Brueghel the Younger's workshop production. The composition belongs to the genre tradition, translating the moralizing subject matter of the earlier Misanthrope into a tightly observed scene of figures including a man wearing a huik, an orb, and a money bag, with a cutpurse enacting the proverb of theft.
The small dimensions and panel support allowed for the precise brushwork typical of Brueghel the Younger's manner, in which narrative detail and emblematic objects are rendered with miniaturist clarity.
The painting is held in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp as part of the Vlaamse Kunstcollectie, and the sources do not provide a documented statement on present condition or conservation history.
History & Provenance
Pieter Brueghel the Younger painted I Mourn because the World is so Untrustworthy in 1594. The oil-on-panel painting, measuring 17 by 17 cm, is based on his father Pieter Bruegel the Elder's composition The Misanthrope.
The work is held in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, through the Vlaamse Kunstcollectie.
The painting is held in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, part of the Vlaamse Kunstcollectie.
Its inventory number is S/17, and it entered the museum’s holdings as part of the permanent collection.
The work has been exhibited at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp in the context of its permanent display of Flemish art from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
Overview
Created in 1598, this oil painting by Pieter Brueghel the Younger presents a compact, circular composition that centers on two figures in a rural setting. A hooded man in a black robe stands upright, while a plump, red‑cheeked figure lies on the ground clutching a money bag and a hat, suggesting a moment of confrontation or accusation.
Artist & collection
Artist
Pieter Brueghel the Younger ( BROY-gəl, also US: BROO-gəl; Dutch:; between 23 May and 10 October 1564 – between March and May 1638) was a Flemish painter known for numerous copies after his father Pieter Bruegel the…
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Saint Jerome in a Landscape
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Miracle of Saint Simeon Stylites from the Polyptych of John the Merciful.
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