376 - Lucas van Leyden (1494 - Leiden - 1533), Young Man with a Skull.

Lucas van Leyden (1494 - Leiden - 1533), Young Man with a Skull. Engraving on laid paper with an unrecognisable watermark. (c. 1519). 18.5 x 14.5 cm (sheet). Bartsch VII, 409, no. 174; New Hollstein 174 I b (of II). A fine impression of the first state (of two; New Hollstein b), printing very clearly and with a few small scratches in the plate. Trimmed outside the borderline on all sides, the borderline partly redrawn in black ink. Although the engraving has occasionally been interpreted as a possible self-portrait, the focus is not on the individual depiction but on the transience of life. With his gesture, the young man points to the skull – a traditional symbol of the finiteness of human existence. His elegant clothing and elaborate hat serve to emphasise the vanitas motif: worldly wealth and beauty are just as fleeting as life itself. – With smoothed-out, age-related creases, hardly visible on the front. A horizontal, closed tear along the right edge. Slightly thinned in the upper corners on the reverse, otherwise in good condition. Taxation: differenzbesteuert (VAT: Margin Scheme).