The painting serves a useful historical purpose in that it shows aspects of
everyday European life in the mid-sixteenth century. Clothes are clearly
depicted, as are pastimes such as playing cards. Uniquely, the painting shows a
common method of execution for sixteenth-century criminals: being lashed to a cartwheel
mounted on a vertical pole. Objects such as musical instruments and an early
mechanical clock, and scenes including a
funeral service provide historians with a
deeper understanding of the lifestyle of the 1560s.