Der Ritter (The Knight)

Hans Lützelburger after Hans Holbein the Younger

National Gallery of Art

This is a black-and-white print of an armored knight fighting a skeleton. The knight is in full armor, holding a sword. He is contorted to the side to avoid a blow from the skeleton's lance. The skeleton wears an armored breastplate with chainmail sleeves which hang loosely off of its bones, and it thrusts a long lance towards the knight. The scene is set in a landscape with an open field scattered with stones under a sky with dark clouds. The sun appears to set below the low horizon. At the very bottom of the print, an hourglass lies on its side. The print is inside a think black rectangular outline, and above the top are the words "Der Ritter."