Death and the Maiden (Baldung)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Death and the Maiden or Death and Lust (Der Tod und das Mädchen (Der Tod und die Wollust)) is a painting executed in 1517 by the German artist Hans Baldung (otherwise known as Hans Baldung Grien) which is in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
The image was reproduced on the cover of Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History.
The work depicts a popular theme that Baldung himself visited several times, that of the early death of a young woman, often with erotic overtones. In this version Death has seized hold of a voluptuous young woman's hair and is pointing down to a tomb in mock benediction. Above his head are written the words "Hie must du yn" or "Here you must go". The distraught victim, fully aware of her fate, wrings her hands together, pleading for her life.
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