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View at the museum ↗Lovers Surprised by Death
Hans Burgkmair, the elder1510
- Attribution
- Hans Burgkmair the Elder German, 1473-1531
- Medium
- Chiaroscuro woodcut from three blocks in shades of brown on ivory laid paper
- Physical dimensions
- 21.7 × 15.7 cm (8 9/16 × 6 3/16 in.)
- Credit line
- Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston Endowment
Museum metadata is available under CC0. Image availability and rights are separate; consult the source record.
Source rights statement: Public domain
View the museum record ↗From the museum
Themes derived from the Dance of Death, a medieval allegory in which Death overcomes people of all ages and levels of society, pervaded German art in the late medieval and Renaissance periods. As the first true chiaroscuro woodcut, Hans Burgkmair's compelling depiction of lovers torn apart by death is a work of pivotal importance. It represents a major cognitive leap on the part of the artist, who was the first to compose an organic three-dimensional composition by juxtaposing and overprinting three tones added by three different wood blocks.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0