The Triumph of Death
1580/1600
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 6.9 × 27.9 cm (2 3/4 × 11 in.); Sheet: 7.8 × 28.8 cm (3 1/8 × 11 3/8 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
109164
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Bry’s miniscule engraved frieze copies and reverses a much larger woodcut by Erhard Schön of 1532. It shows the sizable baggage trains that would have followed Landsknecht companies on their campaigns. The artist preserved every detailed element, incorporating the soldiers’ flamboyant outfits, their downtrodden wives and other camp followers, and exotic prisoners and their camel. Death brings up the rear on a pale, haggard horse, marking the end to all things.
About the Artist
Johann Theodor de Bry · 1561–1923
Comment on works: copper engraver