Death and the Lovers

This moralising drawing – finished to a high degree with lavish washes – shows a soldier seducing a young woman. Distracted by her sensuousness, he is unaware of the skeletal legs beneath her skirt and the figure of Death poised to strike with his arrow. A devil hovers above ready to claim his soul. The hourglass, lute and mirror serve to further underscore the brevity and vanity of mortal life. The reddish colouring, fire and smoke intensify the macabre atmosphere.