Young Woman Attacked by Death (The Ravisher)

Albrecht Dürer produced a number of early prints warning against the pleasures of the flesh, including the Ill-Assorted Couple. Perhaps the most insidious to modern eyes is this seductively velvety engraving. The ravisher’s young victim writhes on a fence much like the one often occupied by the Virgin Mary in other Dürer engravings. Whether she has fallen into the hands of a lusty wild man or Death himself, both her virtue and her life are clearly at stake. In a maelstrom of violent wind, his bony arms reach around her waist and pull tightly at her skirts.