The Cardinal and The King

Category

Library Item

Item no

28474

Title

The Cardinal and The King

Description

Two dead figures, representing Death, lead or dance a cardinal and a king to their demise. The cardinal is recognisable by his distinctive hat and robes; the king has his crown and the symbol of the French monarchy, the fleurs-de-lys, on his sceptre and on his clothes. The scene is intended as a reminder that rich and powerful persons are as mortal as those who serve them.

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1873

Size

7.3 x 11.0 cm

Type

Wood cut

Location

Art and Design Library

The dead figures are not fully skeletal here, but retain some flesh on their bones; both corpses also have holes in their abdomens. In depicting the dead figures in this way, the artist seems to have realistically considered the processes of death and decay; the holes, for example, match those usually created by the abdominal explosion of corpses, which was not an uncommon sight in the fifteenth century. This type of accuracy may seem very grisly to us, but medieval audiences were very familiar with death and the processes associated with it. The dead figure leading the cardinal carries a javelin or dart; this was a well-known attribute of Death.
This woodcut is from a Dance of Death by an unknown artist. The series was first printed in 1485 by the publisher Guyot Marchant, and was a copy of the fresco painted some sixty years earlier (c. 1425) in the St. Innocent's Cemetery in Paris. The arches and pillars seen in the woodcuts are reminiscent of the architectural features of the fresco's original location on the south wall of the cemetery behind the cloister-arches. The original fresco was destroyed in 1669, so Marchant's prints are all that remains of this particular Dance. The woodcuts were also accompanied with poetry attributed to Jehan Gerson. This particular image is taken from a publication of 1873, which is one of many of Central Library's Dance of Death books.

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Related subjects

Clothing and dress > Accessories > Crowns

Clothing and dress > Garments > Robes

People > Adults > Men

People > Body parts > Skeletons

People > Politics and government > Kings

People > Religion > Clergy

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