Reproductie van twee prenten van een grafmonument voor een onbekende man en het grafmonument voor Andreas Doria, door Hans Vredeman de Vries before 1881

This reproduction of two prints, part of a funerary monuments series, was published in Antwerp around 1645. Here, the stone effigies of the deceased are presented lying atop their tombs as if in eternal repose, a powerful symbol of aristocratic status and commemoration, echoing ancient Roman funerary practices. Consider the gesture of the figures: their hands are clasped in prayer, a motif tracing back to medieval Christian iconography, signifying piety and a soul's readiness for divine judgment. This motif, however, is not static. In earlier depictions, the hands might be more rigidly posed, but here, there’s a softening, reflecting a Renaissance humanism that brings a more personal, emotional dimension to death. The tombs themselves are adorned with heraldic shields, statements of lineage and honor, functioning almost as psychological anchors, connecting the deceased to their ancestral past and earthly achievements. This act of memorializing and eternalizing, speaks to our collective confrontation with mortality. The image, steeped in symbols of death and legacy, taps into our subconscious anxieties and desires.