Loading
Death and the Maidan
Hans Schwarzc. 1520
Renaissance and Reformation. German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach
Death and transience (vanitas) have always been a popular theme in art, intended as a memento mori to illustrate the finitude of earthly life. Death—half skeleton, half rotting flesh—has drawn a beautiful, naked girl to his side like an imperious lover whom she cannot flee. He stops neither for youth nor beauty; for him, all people are equal.
Show lessRead more
Details
- Title: Death and the Maidan
- Creator: Hans Schwarz
- Date Created: c. 1520
- Physical Dimensions: Dm: 10.5 cm
- Technique and Material: Boxwood
- Provenance: Acquired in 1930 from the Figdor Collection
- Museum: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, Eigentum des Kaiser Friedrich Museumsvereins
- Inv.-No.: M 187
- ISIL-No.: DE-MUS-815614
- External Link: http://www.smb.museum/museen-und-einrichtungen/skulpturensammlung-und-museum-fuer-byzantinische-kunst/home.html
- Copyright: Photo © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinisch Kunst/ Antje Voigt; Text © Renaissance and Reformation: German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach, A Cooperation of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Catalogue of the Exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Nov 20, 2016 – March 26, 2017, Munich: Prestel, 2016; cat. no. 76 / Hans-Ulrich Kessler
- Catalogue: https://prestelpublishing.randomhouse.de/book/Renaissance-and-Reformation/Stephanie-Buck/Prestel-com/e504919.rhd
- Artist Dates: c. 1492–93 Augsburg–1527 Augsburg
- Artist Biography: Schwarz was probably trained in Augsburg and was active for a time in Nuremberg, where he was in contact with Dürer’s workshop. He is known above all for his portrait medallions, cast in metal or carved from boxwood, of prominent contemporaries such as Dürer, Emperor Charles V, and Jakob Fugger. In addition there are more than 130 drawings by him—often preliminary studies for medallions.
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more
