Advanced Search 
Allegory of Death
1588
Medium/Technique
Chiaroscuro woodcut printed from four blocks, in four shades of brown
Dimensions
Sheet: 51.2 x 34 cm (20 3/16 x 13 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of W. G. Russell Allen
Accession Number1975.469
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
Bartsch and Meyer describe two states of this print, the second containing a roundel in the upper right corner with the figure of death and the letters "Mus", which can be cut out and put into the center of the wheel in the lower half of the print, where it can be rotated to complete several inscriptions in the wheel. Bartsch's and Meyer's first state is before this roundel. It appears from the impressions in the MFA, however (this one and 1986.111), that the roundel was included in the first state, and that it was removed, replaced with a plug, and printed on a separate sheet of paper in the second state. Evidence of the plug appears in both the MFA impressions.
Catalogue Raisonné
Bartsch XII.135.13, i/ii; Meyer 27, i/ii (see Note)
Marks
Recto, bottom right, stamped in black ink, the mark of Friedrich August II, King of Saxony, Dresden (1797-1854)(Lugt 971); verso, lower right, stamped in brown ink, the mark of the MFA W.G. Russell Allen Bequest (Lugt 3593)
ProvenanceFriedrich August II, King of Saxony, Dresden (1797-1854)(Lugt 971); W. G. Russell Allen, Boston (1882-1955); his bequest to the MFA September 10, 1975