1520 Schwarz - Death and the Maiden anagoria

''Death and the Maiden'' (''Der Tod und das Mädchen'' in German) was a common motif in

Renaissance art Renaissance art (1350 – 1620) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occurr ...

, especially in German painting and printmaking. The usual form shows just two figures, with a young woman being seized by a personification of Death, often shown as a skeleton. Variants may include other figures. It developed from the

Danse Macabre The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory from the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification of death, summoning represen ...

with an added

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

subtext. The German artist

Hans Baldung Hans Baldung (1484 or 1485 – September 1545), called Hans Baldung Grien, (being an early nickname, because of his predilection for the colour green), was a painter, printer, engraver, draftsman, and stained glass artist, who was considered th ...

depicted it several times.Le Mort dans l'Art The motif was revived during the romantic era in the arts, a notable example being

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

Der Tod und das Mädchen "" (, "Death and the Maiden"), 531; Op. 7, No. 3, is a lied composed by Franz Schubert in February 1817. It was published by Cappi Diabelli in Vienna in November 1821. The text is derived from a poem written by German poet Matthias Clau ...

", setting a poem by the German poet Matthias Claudius. Part of the piano part was re-used in Schubert's famous String Quartet No. 14, which is therefore also known by this title, in either English or German.

Selected versions

*Painting: '' Death and the Maiden'' (''Der Tod und das Mädchen'') by

(1517) *Painting: ''Death and the Maiden'' (''Der Tod und das Mädchen'') by Niklaus Manuel Deutsch I (1517) *Painting: ''Young Woman and Death'' (''La jeune fille et la mort'') by Henri-Léopold Lévy (1876) *Engraving: ''Death and the Maiden'' (''Døden og Piken'') by

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...

(1894) *Painting: ''Death and the Maiden'' (''Der Tod und das Mädchen'') by Adolf Hering (1900) - private collection, location unknown *Painting: ''Death and the Maiden'' by Marianne Stokes (1908) *Painting: ''Death and the Maiden'' (''Tod und Mädchen'') by

Egon Schiele Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painters, painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude sel ...

(1915) *Drawing: ''Death and the Maiden'' (''Der Tod und das Mädchen'') by Clara Siewert (1920s) *Drawing: ''Death and the Maiden'' (''Der Tod und das Mädchen'') by

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( ; ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and Aesthetics, art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism and sociology. With Heinrich Böll, , Caroline Tisdall, Rober ...

(1959) *Painting: ''Death and the Maiden, Ballet for Two'' by Herbert Lautman (1995)

Gallery

File:Hans Burgkmair the elder - Lovers Surprised by Death - Google Art Project.jpg, Hans Burgkmair, ''Lovers Surprised by Death'', 1510.

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

File:Gw11 0001031 20170619 001 Baldung Der Tod und das Maedchen.jpg, Hans Baldung, '' Death and the Maiden'', 1517.

Kunstmuseum Basel The Kunstmuseum Basel houses the oldest public art collection in the world and is generally considered to be the most important museum of art in Switzerland. It is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. Its lineage extends ba ...

File:Niklaus Manuel Deutsch 003.jpg,

Chiaroscuro woodcut In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...

by Niklaus Manuel Deutsch I, 1517. Kunstmuseum Basel File:La Mort embrassant une jeune femme debout. (Hollstein 150 Pauli 151), GDUT10582.jpg, Small

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

by Sebald Beham, 1547 File:La jeune fille..Lévy Nancy 2718.jpg, ''La jeune fille et la mort'' by Henri-Léopold Lévy, 1876. Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy File:Edvard Munch - Death and Life - Google Art Project.jpg,

, ''Death and Life'', 1894.

Munch Museum Munch Museum (), marketed as Munch (stylised in all caps) since 2020, is an art museum in Bjørvika, Oslo, Norway dedicated to the life and works of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The museum was originally located at Tøyen, which was opene ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

File:Death and the Maiden by Elna Borch, 1905 - Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek - Copenhagen - DSC09501.JPG, Elna Borch, 1905.

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek ("ny" means "new" in Danish; "Glyptotek" comes from the Greek root ''glyphein'', to carve, and ''theke'', storing place), commonly known simply as Glyptoteket, is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The collection ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Egon_Schiele_012.jpg, '' Death and the Maiden'', by

, 1915.

Österreichische Galerie Belvedere The Österreichische Galerie Belvedere is a museum housed in the Belvedere (palace), Belvedere palace, in Vienna, Austria. The Belvedere palaces were the summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736). The ensemble was built in the ear ...

, Vienna File:Heinrich Hoerle Der Tod und das Mädchen c1919.jpg, Heinrich Hoerle, c. 1919 File:היפה והמוות משתקפים כבלט בדואט.jpg, alt=Oil on canvas, Herbert Lautman, Death and the Maiden, Ballet for Two (1995)

Notes

External links

*
''Death and the Maiden''
@ La Mort dans l'Art {{Death and mortality in art Iconography Women and death Renaissance art Romantic motifs Personifications of death Visual motifs Death in art