The Misanthrope is a tempera painting on canvas by the Flemish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, created in 1568.

The circular painting is encased in a square frame and depicts a black-robed, white-bearded elderly man clasping his hands before him.

[2] A Flemish inscription at the bottom reads:[3] Om dat de werelt is soe ongetru / Daer om gha ic in den ru("Because the world is perfidious, I am going into mourning").The hooded misanthrope is being robbed by the small figure in the glass globe who is holding his purse.

He cannot renounce the world as he would wish and he is contrasted with the shepherd in the background, who guards his sheep and who is more virtuous than the misanthrope because of his simple, honourable performance of his duties and his sense of responsibility toward his charges.

[5] The Misanthrope also refers to a tempera painting on canvas by the Flemish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Younger who is known for creating multiple copies of his father's work.