Jongeman en de Dood 1485 - 1490

The Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet made this print called “Young Man and Death” using a drypoint technique. The image stages an encounter with mortality, a common theme in late medieval art and literature in Northern Europe. The gaunt figure of Death places his hand on the shoulder of a young man whose clothes and hair suggest wealth and privilege. This visual representation speaks to the period’s preoccupation with the ever-present threat of plague. Death was no respecter of status. In many artistic depictions of this subject, the figure of Death is shown dancing, a macabre ballet inviting all to an unavoidable fate. But here, in this Dutch print, the figure is static, intimate even. One could study the social history of disease and medicine, or the art of the period to further understand the meaning of this image in its original context. Such research will inform us about the role of art in the face of universal human anxieties.