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About This Work
A woodcut depicting a skeletal figure of Death wearing a partial shroud, emerging from behind a finely dressed noblewoman. The woman wears an elaborate Renaissance gown, a bonnet, and a necklace, appearing occupied with handling a piece of fabric or a cloak while an attendant stands to the right holding the other side of the garment. To the left, a small table holds an hourglass, underscoring the themes of transience and the inevitability of death.
This image is part of Hans Holbein’s 'Les Simulachres & Historiees Faces de la Mort', a foundational work in the Memento Mori tradition that popularized the danse macabre in the early 16th century by showing Death interacting with all social strata.
Connected Texts
Hans Holbein the Younger, Les Simulachres & Historiees Faces de la Mort
This print is plate 34 from the seminal series of woodcuts depicting the universality of death.