Young Man with a Skull

Young Man with a Skull

ca 1519

Engraving on paper

Mått 18,30 x 13,80 cm

G 330/1940

Incorporated to the collection, 1940

In Young Man with a Skull (c. 1519), we leave the simple peasant population that we otherwise associate with Lucas van Leyden for a portrait of a young nobleman in flamboyant clothes and a hat with conspicuously swaying ostrich plumes. In a slightly unnatural pointing gesture, his hand points to a skull that he holds in his arms. It is a memento mori motif. But to whom is the call to remember death addressed? To himself – wealth is no protection against death – the viewer or someone else? He looks out of the picture but does not meet our gaze. The composition is simple, the background empty, but the picture is nevertheless full of movement, dynamics and hidden meanings. The picture has certain similarities with the portrait of Emperor Maximilian I (1520), also in three-quarter profile but turned the other way and with more architecture in the background. Art historian Max J. Friedländer states that Young Man with Skull is not a portrait, nor a self-portrait as previously assumed. Instead, the picture should probably be perceived as a vanitas painting. Kristoffer Arvidsson

Printed. Prints as collector's items, mass media and showpieces, Göteborg, Göteborgs konstmuseum, 14/03/2020 - 16/08/2020 Göteborg, Göteborgs konstmuseum, 12/11/2016 - 15/01/2017