The King (from Danse Macabre)

A monarch sits on an ornate throne under a draped canopy, holding a sword in one hand and a scepter in the other, while wearing a detailed royal mantle and a chain of office. A skeletal figure of Death leans over the back of the throne, firmly grasping the king's crown to lift it from his head. To the right, a kneeling figure bows in supplication, while other noble attendants stand in the background. In the foreground, an hourglass and an orb rest on a pillow, emphasizing the transient nature of worldly power.

This work is part of Hans Holbein the Younger's 'Les Simulachres & Historiees Faces de la Mort', a foundational series in the Danse Macabre tradition that reflects the pervasive 16th-century preoccupation with the inevitability of death across all social strata.