Allegory of the Grip of Ignorance on Humanity and the Salvation of Humanity

The upper half depicts the grip of Ignorance on humanity. In the upper right sits Ignorance (Ignoranza), depicted as a crowned corpulent blind woman on a globe with a rudder in her hand; she rules the world. At her feet three harpies. She is assisted by a blindfolded Fortuna, the personification of fate, and Greed (Avaritia), depicted as a thin old woman. To the left of them four figures representing lust, error, misunderstanding and greed: a blind satyr, a blindfolded man led by a dog, a blind woman and a blind man with Midas ears. This quartet is about to fall over the edge into the ditch full of people who preceded them, visible on the lower half. There one of them is rescued from the ditch by Mercury, here as the god of wisdom: humanity can still be saved by wisdom.