The paintings show the corporal works of mercy, with Jesus in the background viewing each, in this order: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, burying the dead, sheltering the traveler, comforting the sick, and ransoming the captive.

According to the biblical sources (Mt 5:31–46), a decisive factor in the Last Judgement will be the moral question if the corporal works of mercy were practiced or not during lifetime.

Therefore, the conjunction of the Last Judgement and the works of mercy was very frequent in the pictorial tradition of Christian art, especially in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Era.

The paintings, bearing the stamp of Geertgen tot Sint Jans, are done in bright colors, and their figures are drawn in an exaggeratedly caricatured manner.

This brotherhood had operated in the Waag in Alkmaar from approximately 1385 until 1572 and the building functioned as a place where the sick were cared for, travelers were accommodated and where the aid to the poor was organized.

In the Middle Ages, this act expanded to encompass the ransoming of those prisoners who were guilty of minor offenses, which was also one of the occupations of the Holy Ghost Confraternity.

[6] In 1582, The Seven Works of Mercy, as well as depictions on the pulpit of the Saint Lawrence Church, were cladded with black paint by Jaques Mostaert van Brabant and Marcus Blancveneur.