Osseous

Thomas Geminus after Andreas Vesalius
Anatomical Study of Skeleton
1545
engraving (book illustration)
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Nancy Sutor
Skeleton
1983
hand-colored cyanotype
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Heinrich Aldegrever
Adam toiling with Death
1541
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Albrecht Dürer
Death and Landsknecht
1510
woodcut
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Cecil van Haanen
Death and the Artist
before 1914
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Ludwig Krug
Death approaching Two Women
before 1532
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Philipp Sadeler
Death felling a Tree
ca. 1630
engraving (book illustration)
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff
Dance of Death
1493
woodcut
(illustration from the Nuremberg Chronicle)
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Anonymous German Artist
Ex Libris - Johann Müller
ca. 1600-1650
etching
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Anonymous German Artist
Skull
ca. 1575
engraving
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Philippe de Champaigne
Still Life with Skull
1671
oil on panel
Musée de Tessé, Le Mans

Wilhelm Leibl
Skull with Shroud
1868
oil on paper
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

Théodule Ribot
Skull of Sheep
ca. 1880
oil on canvas
Musée de l'Oise

Israel van Meckenem
Three Skulls
ca. 1485
engraving
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Johann Striedbeck the Younger
Anatomical Studies of the Skull
ca. 1690
etching
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Hans Thoma
Self Portrait with Love and Death
1875
oil on canvas
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

Queen:  But tell me how the naval battle began.  Who started the fight?  Was it the Greeks, or was it my son, proudly confident in the superior number of his fleet?

Messenger:  The start of all our sorrows, mistress, was the appearance from somewhere of an avenging demon or an evil spirit.  A Greek man came from the Athenian fleet* and told your son Xerxes that when the gloom of black night should come on, the Greeks would not stay where they were, but would leap on to the benches of their ships and seek to save their lives by taking to flight in all directions under cover of the darkness.  As soon as he heard this, not understanding the deceit of the Greek or the jealousy of the gods, he proclaimed the following order to all his admirals.  When the sun ceased to burn the earth with its rays, and darkness took hold of the celestial regions, they were to arrange the mass of their ships in three lines and guard the exits and the surging straits, while stationing others so as to surround the island of Ajax completely; because if the Greeks should escape grim death by finding some means of escaping unnoticed with their ships, it was decreed that all the admirals were to lose their heads.  So much he said, speaking from a very cheerful heart, because he did not understand what the gods were about to do; and they, obediently and in good order, prepared their supper, and each crew member fastened his oar by its loop to a thole-pin well designed for good rowing.  When the light of the sun disappeared and night came on, every master of the oar and every man-at-arms went on board his ship; one rank encouraged another all along each vessel, and they sailed as each captain had been directed.  All through the night, the masters of the fleet kept the whole naval host sailing to and fro.  The night wore on, but the Greek force did not attempt a clandestine break-out in any direction at all.  Instead, when Day with her white horses spread her brilliant light over all the earth, first of all there rang out loudly a joyful sound of song from the Greeks, and simultaneously the echo of it resounded back from the cliffs of the island.  All we Easterners were terrified, because we had been deceived in our expectation: the Greeks were now raising the holy paean-song, not with a view to taking flight, but in the act of moving out to battle, with cheerful confidence, and the call of the trumpet was setting the whole place ablaze.

– Aeschylus, from Persians (472 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)

*this was the slave Sicinnus, bringing a message from his master Themistocles