The Upside-Down World

The print depicts a landscape where a farm in the background is being plundered by a group of soldiers. In the foreground, a rebus is depicted that gives allegorical commentary on the political situation in the Netherlands in 1576-1579. The rebus must be read from left to right. Farthest to the left stand the personifications of Envy (Nijt) and War (Wreet). Together they hold a huge inverted globe. A goat (met) standing between them and a rosary (Gheveijnst) complete the first sentence: 'Envy and a rosary hold the world upside down'. In the center of the print stands the symbol of loyalty (two clasped hands), a duck (ende) and the sleeping, naked personification of Love (Love sleeps, dishonored). This sentence reads as follows: 'Loyalty and Love sleep, dishonored'. Finally, farthest to the right stand a sod of grass (soo), a roof (den) and the personification of Time (Tyt) who opens a book with a dough roll (wel) on the left page and a ladder and the letter t (leert) on the right page.