Young Couple Threatened by Death (The Promenade)
c. 1498
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/sheet: 19.6 × 12 cm (7 3/4 × 4 3/4 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
4056
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The foreboding, corpselike figure of Death with an hourglass appears in many Northern Renaissance prints; in this engraving, he peeks out from behind a tree, holding his hourglass aloft. Each image is a reminder that death strikes the young, the Christian, and the chivalric alike; no one outlasts or avoids death. There is an evident connection between death and sensuality in this image, underlined by the suggestively positioned and sized sword.
About the Artist
Albrecht Dürer · 1471–1528
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) stands as the preeminent figure of the Northern Renaissance and arguably the most influential artist in the history of printmaking. Born in Nuremberg on May 21, 1471, and dying in the same city on April 6, 1528, Dürer revolutionized the status of the artist in Northern Europe, transforming printmaking from a commercial craft into an independent fine art and establishing ...