Skulls & Memento Mori
Remember that you must die: the skull anchors vanitas still lifes, saints' meditations, and anatomical studies across every era.
237 public-domain artworks from six world museums · free to view and download
Guru Dragpo
The Crucifixion
Master of the Codex of Saint George, ca. 1330–35
The Crucifixion with Saints and a Donor
Joos van Cleve, ca. 1520
The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John
Hendrick ter Brugghen, ca. 1624–25
The Penitent Magdalen
Georges de La Tour, ca. 1640
The Meditation on the Passion
Vittore Carpaccio, ca. 1490
A skull with a beard
José Sanchez|José Guadalupe Posada, ca. 1880–1910
Skull
Skull in Profile
Battista Franco, ca. 1538
Netsuke of Boar with a Human Skull
Saint Bruno meditating on a skull
Jusepe de Ribera (called Lo Spagnoletto)|Lodovico Inig|Francesco Rosaspina, 1780–1840
The Meditating Child
Louis Marin Bonnet|Charles Dominique Joseph Eisen, ca. 1760
Hunting Trophies
Unknown, ca. 1870
Departure for the Sabbath
David Teniers the Younger|baron Dominique Vivant Denon
Sectioned skull in profile to left with the left side of the cranium removed
Leonardo da Vinci|Wenceslaus Hollar, 1651
Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
Domenico Piola, 1627–1703
St. Francis de Paul
Claude Mellan
Astrology
Anonymous, Italian, 17th century|Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola), 17th century
Jacob, from the series Sylvae Sacrae Monumenta...Anachoretarum
Maerten de Vos|Johann Sadeler I, 1593–94
Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae: Sacrificial Instruments Based on Ancient Relief Sculpture
Nicolas Beatrizet|Enea Vico|Claudio Duchetti, ca. 1550–75
Death and the Devil Surprising Two Women
Daniel Hopfer, ca. 1515
The Penitent Magdalen
Corrado Giaquinto, ca. 1750
A saint seated at a table with his right hand resting on a skull, from a portfolio of reproductions of the Imperial Gallery of Paintings in Vienna; plate 33 of the series
Jusepe de Ribera (called Lo Spagnoletto)|Anton Joseph von Prenner, 1728
Portrait of Caravaggio, turned to the right and looking at his reflection in a mirror
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi)|Henri Simon Thomassin|Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi), 1707–41
Death on a Canopied Throne (Design for a Title Page)
Godfried Maes, late 17th century
The Ecstacy of the Blessed Giacinta Marescotti
Giuseppe Passeri (Passari), 1654–1714
The Temptation of Saint Mary Magdalen
Johann Liss, ca. 1626
St. Mary Magdalen Reclining in a Grotto
Claude Mellan|Claude Goyrand
Diablerie: A Satire on the Medical Profession
Andries Both, 1612–41
The Goddess Bhairavi Devi with Shiva
Payag, ca. 1630–35
Mary Magdalen in the Wilderness
Anonymous, Italian, Roman-Bolognese, 17th century, 17th century
Sleeping Child with Four Skulls (reverse copy)
Lucas Kilian|Barthel Beham, 1595–1637
Penitent Mary Magdalen
Bartholomeus Spranger
The Virgin and Child with the Skull (copy)
Barthel Beham|Nikolaus Wilborn, 16th century
"In Time All the World Likely to be Cossack or All Republican" – Napoleon I (published in "Time")
Time Publishing Co.|Thomas Nast|Charles Anderson Dana, originally published 1889–90
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare|Charles William Sherborn|Thomas Brooker, 1876
[The Wilderness Battlefield]
Unknown, 1864
Copperheads Worshiping Their Idol
Anonymous, American, 19th century, ca. 1864
Catafalque for Marchese Bartolomeo Ruspoli, S. Maria in Vallicella, Rome, September 21, 1681
Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi|Johannes Collin|Giovanni Battista Contini, 1681
Saint Jerome Hearing the Trumpet of the Last Judgment
Jusepe de Ribera (called Lo Spagnoletto), 1621
Design for a Wall Tomb with a Variant and Statues of the Resurrected Christ and a kneeling Donor
Anonymous, Flemish, 17th century
Awe-struck Saint Jerome
Anonymous, Spanish, School of Seville, 17th century, 17th century
Saint Jerome
Pieter de Jode I, n.d.
Saint Jerome
Johann Sadeler I|Bartholomeus Spranger, 1568–1600
Coat of Arms with a Skull
Albrecht Dürer, 1503
Vanitas Still Life
Jacques de Gheyn II, 1603
The Crucifixion
Housebook Master, 1481–82
Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
Antonio Rossellino, ca. 1470