Minneapolis Institute of Art

Momento mori, from Selectorum Emblematus Centuria Secunda

Crispijn de Passe the Elder

Date

1613

Medium

Engraving

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

With the youthful angel astride a human skull and an hourglass, this image is a momento mori, a reminder that each of us will die. Since the angel grasps a cross, the image is explicitly Christian. In the background, rays of light descend from the dense, billowing clouds and Moses receives the Tablets of the Law--the Ten Commandments. To the right we see a naked old man on the ground and, nearby, two angels attempting to ward of a devil. The implicit message is that we should prepare for our fate. Such images oftem paired with texts are called emblems. They were frequently published in the Netherlands in the 17th century. This one appeared as the 18th among 100 emblems in a book called Selectorum Emblematus Centuria Secunda, written by Gabriel Rollenhagen and published in Arnheim in 1613. Rollenhagen's accompanying verse can be translated as follows: This life is nothing but a quick passage, So that we seem to fly from this land Towards the other brilliants of the celestial manor, Where joy and pleasure are always the way. Europe

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