Lot 29

Unknown author MEMENTO MORI

The allegorical motif of Memento mori goes through human history like a thin thread of the norns foreshadowing destiny. While today the motif of death is shrouded in a certain dose of tactful and timid secrecy, in the history of mankind, death has often been embodied in arts and religion as a warning reminder of human mortality. The motif in the history of the Church has the mission of moderating human pride and strengthening personal consideration over one's own deeds. The text in the picture says: "Plough this field with ox and horse, you also belong to my herd." Skeletons with slightly jovial to even dance gestures push the plowman as if trying to speed up his movement in place and time. The subgenre of Memento Mori is also Danse Macabre, or the "dance of death", which appeared as a genre in the High Middle Ages and its popularity increased significantly during the Renaissance. King, pope, peasants and the children without distinction, all were accompanied by dancing figure of death to the tomb, sometimes it was also playing them musical instruments. In many epochs of history, death has become an obsessive motive for higher and relentless justice. The motto permeates the entire Baroque epoch: "Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas" - or "Vanity over vanity, everything is vanity." After this saying, this whole impressive genre was named.