Death Defeated
1888 (published 1894)
Medium
etching on laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 12.5 x 7.6 cm (4 15/16 x 3 in.) sheet: 16.2 x 9 cm (6 3/8 x 3 9/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Frank Anderson Trapp
Accession Number
2003.118.26
Art Historical Context
Behold William Strang's *Death Defeated* (1888, published 1894), a etching on laid paper that captures the late Victorian fascination with mortality and triumph. Measuring just 12.5 x 7.6 cm on the plate, this intimate print invites close contemplation, its title evoking allegorical themes of victory over death—a motif resonant in 19th-century art amid rapid social change and spiritual introspection. Strang, a Scottish printmaker associated with the Glasgow School and later Symbolist influences, excelled in etching, drawing from masters like Rembrandt. This technique involves incising lines i...