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Death surprising a woman

1530–1560
Not on view
An unusual fusion of traditional vanitas imagery with sophisticated Renaissance Neoplatonism, this image recalls depictions of young women vainly admiring their fleeting charms as Death creeps up behind them. The woman represented here, however, is not contemplating the beauty of her back but noticing that her wings have fallen-one lies near her feet. Plato, in his Phaedrus, wrote, "The immortal soul soars upward into heaven, but the mortal drops her plumes and settles upon the earth." The woman is thus recognizing her own mortality-a recognition reinforced by the grisly figure of Death with his hourglass.


It has been suggested that the M in the cartouche refers to Michelangelo as the source of the design. His influence is apparent in the woman's serpentine pose, modeled on the Florentine artist's Dying Slave for the tomb of Pope Julius II

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Death surprising a woman
  • Artist: Monogrammist M (Italian, active ca.1530–1580)
  • Date: 1530–1560
  • Medium: Engraving
  • Dimensions: sheet: 13 3/4 x 9 5/8 in. (34.9 x 24.4 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Anonymous Gift, 1929
  • Object Number: 29.44.29
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Costumed Woman with Vegetables, Monogrammist M French, Watercolor and gouache on cream laid paper
Costumed Woman with Vegetables
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The Judgment of Paris: he is sitting at left with Venus, Juno and Pallas Athena, a winged victory above. In the upper section the Sun in his chariot preceeded by Castor and Pollux on horseback, at lower right two river gods and a naiad above whom Jupiter, an eagle, Ganymede, Diana and another goddess, Marcantonio Raimondi Italian, Engraving
The Judgment of Paris: he is sitting at left with Venus, Juno and Pallas Athena, a winged victory above. In the upper section the Sun in his chariot preceeded by Castor and Pollux on horseback, at lower right two river gods and a naiad above whom Jupiter, an eagle, Ganymede, Diana and another goddess
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Bacchanal with a Wine Vat, Andrea Mantegna Italian, Engraving and drypoint
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Hercules chasing Avarice from the Temple of the Muses, Ugo da Carpi Italian, Chiaroscuro woodcut from two blocks in green
Hercules chasing Avarice from the Temple of the Muses
Ugo da Carpi
Baldassarre Tommaso Peruzzi
ca. 1520–27

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