The theme of slothfulness was handled during the Middle Ages and the early modern period in drawings, prints, paintings, tapestries and sculptures, most of which are related to the seven deadly sins. They came from the hands of artists such as Dürer, Cranach, Goltzius, Bruegel, etc. and were often illustrations of key texts by Prudentius, Dante, Sebastian Brant and Christine de Pizan. These have a specific aim, namely to rouse the indolent. Slothfulness thus belongs in a socio-historical context, which is elaborated in the textual analysis as well as the interpretation of images. On occasion, the latter add a humorous-ironic note to the literary models and their strictly didactic impetus.

• First monographic description of slothfulness, acedia and idleness
• Depictions of slothfulness by well-known and unknown artists
• Analysis of familiar and unknown literary works on the theme of slothfulness