The Money Devil
second half of the 16th century
Workshop of Germain Hoyau and Olivier Truschet (French, 16th c.) or workshop of Germain Hoyau and Mathurin Nicolas (French, 16th c.)
France
An affordable popular print aimed at a broad audience, this woodcut is a humorous but stinging satire of humanity’s unbridled lust for wealth. At the center a monstrous
creature stands on top of a chest of gold coins, holding money-filled purses and a spiked iron poker. People from different ranks of society—popes, cardinals, bishops, and monks on the left; emperors, kings, noblemen, and soldiers on the right—point their weapons at the money devil. The visual joke derives from a pun in the French inscription, which uses a word that means both “aiming at” and “striving for.” This print appears to be the only surviving impression of this particular composition.
Woodcut in black on cream laid paper