Harvard Art Museums > BR59.32: Death with Left Hand Raised Sculpture Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Death with Left Hand Raised (Unidentified Artist) , BR59.32,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 19, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/222835. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text This statuette depicting a decomposing cadaver armed with a bow and arrows (now lost) is an example of the type of “death figure” produced since the mid-16th century that served to remind the viewer of the transience of life and earthly pleasures. The snakes emerging from the cadaver’s muscles and skin, signifying the temptation of Adam and Eve, and the frogs—symbols of evil spirits—squatting inside the rib cage and on the sculpture’s base emphatically suggest the cadaver’s physical and spiritual deterioration. Identification and Creation Object Number BR59.32 People Unidentified Artist Title Death with Left Hand Raised Classification Sculpture Work Type sculpture Date 1600-1650 Places Creation Place: Europe, Germany, Upper Rhine Culture German Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/222835 Physical Descriptions Medium Linden wood Dimensions 25.4 × 14 × 7.5 cm (10 × 5 1/2 × 2 15/16 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History [Art dealer, Germany, sold]; [to M. Glueckselig & Son, New York, NY (?-1959), sold]; to Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1959. Notes: According to a letter from Frederick Glueckselig of M. Glueckselig & Son to Charles L. Kuhn at the Busch-Reisinger Museum dated April 28, 1959, Mr. Glueckselig purchased both BR59.32 and BR59.33 from a well-known German art dealer without a detailed provenance history. Mr. Glueckselig did not disclose the name of the German art dealer and merely specified that the dealer had recently passed away. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Association Fund Accession Year 1959 Object Number BR59.32 Division European and American Art Contact am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Publication History Theodor Müller, "Frühe Beispiele der Retrospektive in der deutschen Plastik", Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse (Munich, Germany, 1961), no. 1, pp. 20-22 Charles L. Kuhn, German and Netherlandish Sculpture, 1280-1800, the Harvard Collections, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1965), p. 25-26, cat. no. 54 p. 100 [as Personification of Death], under cat. no. 55 pp. 101-103, repr. as pls. XLVIII and XLIX Oliver Andrews, Living Materials: A Sculptor's Handbook, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA, 1983), p. 113, pl. 7.6 Peter Nisbet and Joseph Koerner, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, ed. Peter Nisbet, Harvard University Art Museums and Scala Publishers Ltd. (Cambridge, MA and London, England, 2007), p. 219 Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), p. 92, repr. Remember That You Will Die: Death Across Cultures, brochure, Rubin Museum of Art (New York, NY, 2010), p. 1, repr. as fig. 1 Exhibition History Objects for a Kunstkammer: Early European Collecting, 1550-1700, Harvard University Art Museums, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 12/10/2005 - 11/19/2006 Remember You Will Die: Death Across Cultures, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 03/19/2010 - 08/09/2010 Ancient to Modern, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/31/2012 - 06/01/2013 32Q: 2540 Renaissance, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/20/2017 - 02/14/2018 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/07/2016 - 05/08/2016; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/27/2022 - 01/01/2023 Adam and Eve, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/01/2018 - 01/06/2019 Subjects and Contexts Google Art Project Collection Highlights Related Works Straus.8936 X-radiograph(s) of "Death with Left Hand Raised" Photographs Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
