Death Rides to Town

The second woodcut of Rethel’s Dance of Death shows Death traveling on horseback along a country road toward a walled city whose cathedral rises in the distance, as does the smoke from chimneys hinting at the progress of industrial transformations. He wears a hat, a coat, and boots, and carries a scythe slung over his shoulder, along with a pair of scales that hangs from his little finger.  At a crossroads, two women field‑workers hurry away as they see him drawing near.

The title reads in the original German: Der Tod reitet zur Stadt.