This is one of a celebrated series of small woodcuts that Holbein designed on the theme of Death. In the words of Christian R羹melin: 'Death is depicted in several guises in these illustrations, ranging from the murderous agent (of the monk, merchant, chandler, rich man, knight, earl and nobleman) to the warning commentator (of the pope, emperor, cardinal, judge, alderman, lawyer, and preacher)'.

Members of society are mostly portrayed in a situation designed to criticise a specific type of behaviour 'such as the corruption of the judge, the vanity of the canon, the acquisitiveness of the rich man and the merchant'. The series adapts the tradition of the medieval Danse Macabre (Dance of Death) as the basis for a new and original sequence. It also relates to the imagery of French illuminated Books of Hours and poetical traditions. 'The scenes are the customary illustrations in which Death appears in the form of a skeleton'.