“The Plowman,” created by Hans Holbein the Younger around 1525 in Germany, is a woodcut on paper artwork belonging to the Northern Renaissance art movement. Measuring 65 x 48 cm, it is part of an allegorical series known as “The Dance of Death.”
The artwork depicts a plowman engaged in tilling the land with his team of oxen, underscored by the elements of the Dance of Death theme. In the foreground, the plowman is seen diligently guiding the plow while skeletal figures, symbolic of death, participate in the scene, emphasizing the omnipresent nature of mortality. The background shows a rural landscape featuring rolling hills, a church, and various buildings under a radiating sky, presenting a detailed and vibrant glimpse of a 16th-century countryside. The meticulously rendered lines and the juxtaposition of life and death elements highlight Holbein’s mastery in combining realism with allegorical significance.
