 |
Original illustration on board "The Old Man and Death" by the French-born British painter and illustrator Ernest Henry Griset.
Artwork Information
Artist: Ernest Henry Griset (1843–1907)
Title: The Old Man and Death
Medium: The original work is likely a pen and ink drawing with watercolour or wash, a style Griset often employed.
Subject: The drawing appears to be an illustration for a fable, likely one of Aesop's Fables, which Griset famously illustrated in a humorous and satirical style. The scene depicts a ragged, elderly man struggling under the weight of a large sack of sticks (representing the burdens of life), who encounters a seated, skeletal figure of Death.
Context
Ernest Griset was known for his "Griset's Grotesques" and illustrations for various books, including an edition of Aesop's Fables published in 1869. He was praised for investing his subjects, whether animals or human figures, with human expressions and humorous characteristics without making them entirely ridiculous. This particular work illustrates the common moral of Aesop's fable, where the old man, exhausted by life's burdens, calls upon Death, but then recoils in fear when Death actually appears. |
|
|
