背景：根据佛兰德谚语，银行家、高利贷、税吏、磨坊主是魔鬼的传教士。中世纪以来，税收权是以竞价方式下放给承包人的，这些人得到授权即可在管辖范围内肆意搜刮，超过他们的竞价的部分就是纯利润，所以是臭名昭著的心狠手辣一族。相当数量的这类怪异主题风俗画流传下来，说明当时民间颇为流行，其原因并无定论。 

       赏析：左侧写写画画的是承包人，皮肤因年老而松弛褶皱，将每家农户的产物分门别类记录在账本上，诸如红酒、啤酒、鱼之类；右侧一脸不屑冷笑的是收税执行人，手爪子放在金银币旁边，眼神满是邪恶、露出黄牙；金币银币的残破程度可知其含金量不高，价值较低，一般在民间基层生活中流通。后景的柜子上杂乱无章的放着散乱的纸张，有一根蜡烛，蜡油布满烛台，可见根本没人用旁边摆放的剪刀清理燃过的烛芯，通过突出资源浪费警示人性堕落。画家的姓（Reymerswaele）取自荷兰泽兰的小镇，以种植茜草而知名，此创作中的深红色颜料即由这种茜草制成。

   Two strikingly ugly men in extraordinary clothing are seated at a table in a panelled interior. One writes in a ledger, the other – his features contorted into a sneer – grasps at a pile of coins. Documents, some of them legible, are piled on a cupboard behind the pair.

   Marinus van Reymerswale and his workshop produced a number of versions of this very successful composition; many include manuscripts and legal documents that contain references to the town and inhabitants of Reymerswale, where Marinus probably spent much of his life.

   All are satires of greed and corruption, and they might even have contained recognisable caricatures of officials from Reymerswale. Tax collectors were paid percentages of the revenues they collected, and had many incentives to extort every last mite from taxpayers. The two men, hideous in spite of their rich clothes, are vilified for their bureaucratic and legalistic greed.

百度翻译：fanfyi.baidu.com