Der Tod als Erwürger (Death as a Strangler)

1851

Alfred Rethel

Associated Names
Alfred Rethel

Artist, German, 1816 - 1859

Gustav Richard Steinbrecher

Engraver, German, 1828 - 1887

Hugo Bürkner

Artist, German, 1818 - 1897

Julius Buddeus

Artist, German, active 1830s - 1852

This is a print of a robed skeleton in a shadowy interior with an open window in the background. The skeleton is on the left, one hand grasping a large rope and its head turned downward, partially covered by a hood. The room is furnished with a staircase on the left and a table on the right with various objects on it, including a book, a pitcher, a cup, and a plate with a chunk of bread. Behind the table, an old man sits on a chair, facing the left. He has a long beard, a balding head, and his eyes are closed. His hands are in his lap, and a ring of keys hangs from his tunic. In the center of the print, an open window reveals a distant landscape with a setting or rising sun. The print is detailed, showing the wood grain of the floorboards and beams. There is a line of text below the print.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    wood engraving on wove paper [first edition]

  • Credit Line

    Ruth and Jacob Kainen Memorial Acquisition Fund

  • Dimensions

    image: 30.8 × 27.3 cm (12 1/8 × 10 3/4 in.)
    sheet: 51.5 × 38.9 cm (20 1/4 × 15 5/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2015.103.2

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Manteuffel 1926, no. 24, State iii(b)/iii

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Susan Schulman Printsellers, LLC, New York); purchased 2015 by NGA.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1926

  • Manteuffel, Kurt Zoege von. Alfred Rethel ... mit einem ... kritischen Verzeichnis der Bilddrucke. Hamburg, 1926: no. 24, iii(b)/iii

Inscriptions

lower left in image: AR (in monogram); lower right in image: STEINBRECHER sc. / 1851; lower center below image: Der Tod als Erwürger. / Erster Auftritt der Cholera auf einem Maskenball in Paris 1831.; lower left below image: Herausgegeben as der Akademie der Holzschneidekunst von H. Bürkner / in Dresden; lower right below image: Erschnienen bei Ed. Schulte (J. Buddeus'sche Buch= und Kunsthandl.); by later hand, lower left in graphite: No. 398; by later hand, lower right in graphite: 16

Wikidata ID

Q77015723

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