Rethel's Two Portraits of Death

Rethel, the German artist, has a series of pictures in which he represents death in the various forms in which it confronts humanity. In one the story is of the outbreak of cholera at a masked ball in Paris. In the midst of the revelry Cholera enters, represented by a mummy-like specter with a scourge in her hands, and following her comes Death, dressed in a domino, with two bones for a fiddle. As he walks up the center of the ballroom where worldliness and frivolity have reigned, terror seizes the dancers, the players throw away their instruments, and all seek escape.

But those upon whom the scourge has fallen sink to the ground with their grinning masks mocking their mortal terror. To all such Death is the fearful one, the arch enemy—the cruel, mocking fiend. In the last picture of the series Rethel shows the other side. The scene is set high up in the steeple of the old minster.

The old bell ringer has fallen quietly asleep in his armchair; a gentle peace has fallen upon the old, wrinkled face, and the setting sun seems to speak a bene- diction over him. The thin hands, which are now clasped in prayer, tell a long tale of hard work, and the shrinking figure speaks of sorrows and weariness. At his side are the pilgrim’s hat and staff, which show that in the midst of his earthly troubles he has not been unmindful of heav- enly consolations.

And now to the old bell ringer, who has so often for others rung the deep knell of parting, Death has come—not in grinning mockery at human folly, but as a gentle and trusted friend. Solemnly and lovingly Death takes in his hand the rope and rings the passing of the laborer to his rest, and over the peaceful land the note is carried like a benediction. Part in peace. His death is peace.