An elderly man taunted by a skeleton, as he sits and ponders in a vanitas conceit. Woodcut by Tobias Stimmer, 1580.

  • Stimmer, Tobias, 1539-1584.
Date:
[1580]
Reference:
37427i
Part of:
Der Ander Theil dess neuwen Kunstbuchs in welchem Reissen unnd Malen zu lehrnen allen Kunstliebhabenden zu Nutz an Tag geben, durch die kunstreichen und weit berühmten Jost Ammon und Tobias Stimmer
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About this work

Description

The skeleton carries a money basket and displays an hourglass to show that time is running out, suggestive of the fleetingness of time and emptiness of possessions. It was widely believed that one should prepare for death, avoidance was futile and worldly goods useless. A pelican, with bended neck in submission completes the scene, by symbolising sacrifice and a popular attribute of charity. The attitude of the participants is in keeping with the importance placed in biblical descriptions of death, particularly I Corinthians, 16, verses 51-55, that death could come "in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye" and that death is swallowed up, "oh death where is thy sting, oh grave where is thy victory?"

Publication/Creation

[Frankfurt am Main] : [S. Feyerabendt], [1580]

Physical description

1 print : woodcut ; sheet 13 x 11.2 cm

Reference

Wellcome Collection 37427i

Notes

Woodcut in series: Der Ander Theil dess neuwen Kunstbuchs in welchem Reissen und Malen zu lehrnen allen Kunstliebhabenden zu Nutz an Tag geben, durch die kunstreichen und weit berühmten Jost Ammon und Tobias Stimmer, Frankfurt am Main: S Feyerabendt, 1580

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