Knight, Death and the Devil

The central figure is a heavily armored knight mounted on a sturdy horse, staring stoically forward while passing a withered, snake-haired figure of Death holding a glass timer and a monstrous, pig-snouted devil with goat-like horns. A skull rests on the ground in the bottom left corner near a plaque bearing the artist's monogram and date, while a dog trots alongside the horse's legs through the rocky, dense landscape leading toward a distant castle atop a cliff. The engraving uses dense cross-hatching to create deep shadows on the metallic surfaces of the armor, the textured hides of the animals, and the rugged, uneven terrain of the pass.

This work is widely associated with the Christian humanist tradition and the 'miles christianus' (Christian soldier) motif, drawing inspiration from Erasmus’s 'Handbook of the Christian Soldier' (Enchiridion militis christiani), which encourages the faithful to persist in virtue despite the surrounding threats of mortality and sin.