Ars Moriendi Xylograph

Ars Moriendi depicts the coinciding of human beings and creatures of the afterlife. Although it is a xylograph of the 15th century, it is engraved with such great detail leaving miniscule protrusions to capture the thinnest of ink lines. The piece is so diverse because it abandons the dreary depths of death and explores an alternate, more glorious side of it. Along with showing a new side of death including the mocking of Christ's death, these Latin texts offer how to avoid the five temptations that beset a dying man. Faith, despair, impatients, spiritual pride, and avarice are to be stayed away from in order for a better, proper afterlife. The human figures, or those that have just passed away, have distressed looks on their faces and grasp the hands together in lament. The deathly ghouls on the other hand, show offerings of crowns and faces of smugness as if the newly dead have much to learn. The meeting of the two create an ambiance of comfort between life and death.