Beggars and cripples jostle each other outside a church charity where bread is handed out. Probably, the subject is one of the biblical Seven Works of Mercy (feeding the hungry). The poor, however, are not depicted with much sympathy, as they quarrel and steal from one another. Socially marginalized indigents were regarded as a threat the social order. Portraying them as foolish and immoral was a tradition in Netherlandish painting.