Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Triumph of Death [c.1562]

Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Triumph of Death [c.1562], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting is a morality play showing the triumph of Death over worldly things, symbolized by a large army of skeletons destroying Earth. In the background is a barren landscape where even more scenes of destruction are developed. In the foreground, Death leading his armies on a red horse, destroys the world of the living, who are led to a huge coffin, without hope of salvation. All social classes are included in the composition. Some try to fight their doom, others are abandoned to their fate. Only a pair of lovers in the bottom right, remains outside the future they also have to suffer. 

[Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid - Oil on panel, 117 x 162 cm]