Young Man with a Skull
Lucas van Leyden · c. 1519 · Art Institute of Chicago
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Once interpreted as Lucas van Leyden’s self-portrait, this print is sometimes entitled Memento Mori (Remember you must die). The well-dressed, anonymous figure considers his mortality while pointing at the human skull (which may or may not be real) tucked under his cloak. This image predates by eighty years Shakespeare’s Hamlet, with his famous speech on poor Yorick’s fate, traditionally delivered with the jester’s actual skull in hand. If the round Dürer Crucifixion (1956.951) was printed from Emperor Maximilian’s hatpin, which was also made in 1519, it would have resembled the tiny face stylishly worn on the cap of this unidentified man.
The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Details
- Maker
- Lucas van Leyden, Netherlandish, c. 1494-1533
- Date
- c. 1519
- Medium
- Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
- Dimensions
- Image/sheet, trimmed within platemark: 18.3 × 14.4 cm (7 1/4 × 5 11/16 in.)
- Place of origin
- Netherlands
- Held by
- Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · Not on view
- Credit line
- Clarence Buckingham Collection
Image: Art Institute of Chicago, CC0
