Death and the Maiden (motif)

Death and the Maiden (Der Tod und das Mädchen in German) was a common motif in Renaissance art, especially in German painting and printmaking. The usual form shows just two figures, with a young woman being seized by a personification of Death, often shown as a skeleton. Variants may include other figures. It developed from the Danse Macabre with an added erotic subtext. The German artist Hans Baldung depicted it several times.^[1]

The motif was revived during the romantic era in the arts, a notable example being Franz Schubert's song "Der Tod und das Mädchen", setting a poem by the German poet Matthias Claudius. Part of the piano part was re-used in Schubert's famous String Quartet No. 14, which is therefore also known by this title, in either English or German.^[1]

Selected versions

Painting: Death and the Maiden (Der Tod und das Mädchen) by Hans Baldung (1517)
Painting: Death and the Maiden (Der Tod und das Mädchen) by Niklaus Manuel Deutsch I (1517)
Painting: Young Woman and Death (La jeune fille et la mort) by Henri-Léopold Lévy (1876)
Engraving: Death and the Maiden (Døden og Piken) by Edvard Munch (1894)
Painting: Death and the Maiden (Der Tod und das Mädchen) by Adolf Hering (1900) - private collection, location unknown
Painting: Death and the Maiden by Marianne Stokes (1908)
Painting: Death and the Maiden (Tod und Mädchen) by Egon Schiele (1915)
Drawing: Death and the Maiden (Der Tod und das Mädchen) by Clara Siewert (1920s)
Drawing: Death and the Maiden (Der Tod und das Mädchen) by Joseph Beuys (1959)
Painting: Death and the Maiden, Ballet for Two by Herbert Lautman (1995)