The triumph of Death. In this vision of end of the world, painted by Pieter Bruegel the Older around 1562, Death is at the center. It is armed with a scythe and rides an emaciated horse. A man on theverge of being beheaded cries of mercy in vain, his hands in chains. There is not even a promise of redemption or resurrection in this picture.
Skeletons toll the bell, there is no hope anymore.
This triumphing Death by Alfred Rethel is part of a series of engravings entitled Another dance of Death of the the year 1848 . As a matter of fact, this work was not really a dance of Death, Death is not forming a couple with an individual. Death itself sits on his horse in front. of a destroyed house. At its feet, men are dying on their barricade which the army, on the right, has just destroyed. On the left, a woman and a child cry, undoubtedly mourning the loss of a husband and father.