The Empress (Danse Macabre)

A woodcut print showing a skeletal figure dressed as a jester with a cap and bells, skipping forward while holding an hourglass aloft in one hand and grasping the wrist of an Empress with the other. The Empress wears a crown and a gown with a heavy necklace; she appears startled with her mouth open and arms raised. Behind her, a court lady and an older male figure express shock as they are pulled into the dance. The background features an arched portico or colonnade, with a distant, sparse landscape visible under a cloudy sky.

This work is part of Holbein's 'Les Simulachres & Historiees Faces de la Mort', a foundational series in the Danse Macabre tradition which leveled social hierarchy by illustrating that death claims all, from the lowest peasant to the highest monarch.