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Lucas van Leyden

Young Man with a Skull

c. 1519
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
18.3 × 14.4 cm (7.2 × 5.7 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Once interpreted as Lucas van Leyden’s self-portrait, this print is sometimes entitled Memento Mori (Remember you must die). The well-dressed, anonymous figure considers his mortality while pointing at the human skull (which may or may not be real) tucked under his cloak. This image predates by eighty years Shakespeare’s Hamlet, with his famous speech on poor Yorick’s fate, traditionally delivered with the jester’s actual skull in hand. If the round Dürer Crucifixion (1956.951) was printed from Emperor Maximilian’s hatpin, which was also made in 1519, it would have resembled the tiny face stylishly worn on the cap of this unidentified man.

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