The "mystery plays" became popular during the medieval period, and were used to retell religious, allegorical stories in a context that could be both understood and enjoyed by a population that was mostly illiterate. In The Battle Between Carnival and Lent, Lent is personified by the man in a nun habit referred to as the "Princess of Fasting and Penitence" jousting against the personification of Carnival, or the "Emperor of the Drunkards and Gluttons." Lent fends off her opponent upon a barrel full of fish, denoting the sacrifice of meat during the Lenten season, pushed along by members of the devout and observant, including a pair of flagellants. Carnival wields a skewer of roasted poultry, riding atop a barrel presumably filled with succulent foods, followed by fellow revelers tossing playing cards, dice and carrying musical instruments-all symbols of excess.

Hailing from an artistically talented family, Pieter Brueghel the Younger was the son of Pieter Brueghel the Elder, also known as the "Peasant Brueghel." Brueghel was five years old when his father died, and he soon went to live with his grandmother, who was an accomplished artist in her own right. He is most noted for his copies of his father's works, of which the present example is an excerpt from his father's version of The Battle Between Carnival and Lent currently housed at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. He developed a unique style that emphasized the fantastic and graphical, much the opposite of his father's more picturesque scenes. His striking images and allegorical subjects made him the most famous artist of his day.