The theme broached here is human wrongdoing that includes idleness and gluttony. It pervades all social classes, as shown by representatives of the three social groups—the soldier, peasant and man of letters. Lethargy and surrendering to vice are closely linked to one another.
Originally part of the collection of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s “Land of Cockaigne” was taken to Skokloster Castle during the Thirty Years' War after being looted by Swedish troops. At the beginning of the 20th century, the painting entered the collection of Richard von Kaufmann, a Berlin-based university lecturer and government official. On December 4, 1917, it was auctioned in Berlin by Paul Cassirer and Hugo Helbing.
The winning bid was placed by Otto Lanz, a Swiss surgeon, who purchased the painting for the sum of 310,000 Reichsmark for the Alte Pinakothek. The acquisition, however, was only made possible through joint donations from Otto Lanz, Paul Cassirer, Hugo Helbing and other anonymous supporters as well as the widow of the deceased collector, Marie von Kaufmann. She waived part of the proceeds in favour of the Alte Pinakothek, as documented in an exchange of letters with the then General Director Friedrich Dörnhöffer, kept in the painting’s documentation file.
Several of the individuals who made the acquisition of the “Land of Cockaigne” for the Alte Pinakothek possible were persecuted, marginalised and murdered as Jews during the National Socialist era. The recognition of their contributions here serves as just one example of the many patrons of the Bavarian State Painting Collections who played a significant role in expanding the art collections and were subsequently persecuted for being Jewish by the state between 1933 and 1945.