Death and Life Contrasted
after Robert Dighton, about 1784 to 1793Fine art reproduction on 200gsm matte paper. A5 to A2, plus 12x16 and 18x24 inches.Half of him is dressed for a ball. The other half has already been buried.
Death and Life Contrasted, or An Essay on Man is a hand-coloured Georgian engraving after a design by Robert Dighton, printed in London by Bowles and Carver between about 1784 and 1793. One figure is split down the middle. On the right stands a fashionable gentleman in a red coat with a star on his breast. On the left stands his own skeleton, leaning on a gravedigger's spade.
Look closely at the grass by his feet. A ticket for a masquerade at the Pantheon, playing cards, dice and a scroll marked Pedigree lie scattered there. The stone tablet behind him begins with the words "The Wages of Sin is Death." It is a memento mori, a reminder that death comes for everyone, delivered with a Georgian sense of humour. A companion print, An Essay on Woman, makes the same point with a lady of fashion.
The look
Scarlet coat, sage green grass and the cream of old paper. Witty, macabre and beautifully strange. Gothic wall art for a library, a study or a hallway, and a talking point in any dark academia decor.
Sizes
| Size | Centimetres | Inches |
|---|---|---|
| A5 | 14.8 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in |
| A4 | 21 x 29.7 cm | 8.3 x 11.7 in |
| A3 | 29.7 x 42 cm | 11.7 x 16.5 in |
| A2 | 42 x 59.4 cm | 16.5 x 23.4 in |
| 12 x 16 in | 30.5 x 40.6 cm | 12 x 16 in |
| 18 x 24 in | 45.7 x 61 cm | 18 x 24 in |
This painting stops at A2. Above that size the original photograph loses the fine detail of the brushwork, so the shop does not offer it.
Custom sizes on request. Inch sizes have a slightly different shape from A sizes, so the edges trim a little. Size guide
Frames and delivery
Choose a black, white or oak frame, or order the print unframed. It is printed locally in the UK, Europe, the US, Canada or Australia, at the location closest to you. Free tracked shipping, no customs fees. Printing and delivery
Gifting
A clever gift for a birthday, a graduation or a new home library. A two-hundred-year-old joke that still lands.
More like this
More memento mori in our Gothic Memento Mori Art collection: Allegory of Death by Tomás Mondragón and Memento Mori, To This Favour by William Michael Harnett. For a skeleton with a sense of humour, see Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette by Vincent van Gogh.
