Details

Title

The Deadly Sins Dominated by Death (Les Péchés Capitaux dominés par la mort), from the Deadly Sins (Les Péchés Capitaux) series

Artist/Maker

James Ensor (Belgian, 1860–1949)

Date

1904

Medium

Etching

Dimensions

6 3/8" x 9 7/8"

Credit

Purchase with funds from the Lawrence and Alfred Fox Foundation for the Ralph K. Uhry Collection

Accession #

72.8 H

On View

Currently not on view

In the series’ frontispiece, black-winged Death like an emcee presents the seven sins to the viewer. The sins are personified by various stock characters: on the very left, Pride appears as a soldier; next to him, Avarice grips his money bag; Anger is a woman staring intently and with bared teeth at the man representing Lust, who in turn is closely looking at her; next is a round-faced Glutton, with a sausage or cigar in his mouth; Envy holds a threatening knife; and finally, Sloth snores open-mouthed while a snail crawls up his night shirt.

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