Der Kuniginn (The Queen)
Medium
woodcut
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1948.11.130
Art Historical Context
"Der Kuniginn ( Queen)" is a striking woodcut from around 1526, designed by the masterful Hans Holbein the Younger and cut by Hans Lützel. Part of Holbein's renowned *Dance of Death* series, this print captures the Northern Renaissance fascination with mortality, a popular medieval motif revived during the early Reformation. In it, Death—often depicted as a skeletal figure— the elegant queen in a grim procession, underscoring that no rank, not even royalty, escapes the great equalizer. Holbein, a German-Swiss portraitist celebrated for his precise realism and psychological depth, created intr...