7. Barthel Beham
(1502-1540)
Madonna and Child with a Skull

(click on image to print)
Beham, Madonna and Child

Madonna and Child with a Skull

Engraving, 44 x 65 mm., Bartsch 5, Pauli 6 only state. A very fine impression, better than the BM impression reproduced in The Illustrated Bartsch, on laid paper trimmed to the subject but complete. Though catalogued as a religious image, the print actually portrays a mother attempting to nurse a dead child. The skull and the hourglass confirm the Memento Mori. It is the kind of subject that often attracted Barthel, who also did images of children lying amid skulls and one of a miscarriage. There is nothing in the print that argues for a religious interpretation. A rare print.