Two Examples of Allegorical Figure of Death as a Skeleton in the Northwest Croatian Art

The article discusses the representations of Death as a skeleton in the late 17^th and the middle of the 18^th century in north-western Croatia. The western wall of St Joseph’s chapel in the Franciscan church of St John the Baptist in Varaždin holds the figures of Death as a reaper and Death with arrow and hourglass which, surrounded by two angels holding upright candles, carry the message of memento mori and the promise of eternal life. These sculptures were made by an anonymous artist commissioned by the merchant Daniel Praunsperger. In 1758, as part of the restoration of the St Peter’s chapel in Gotalovec, the preapositus of the Zagreb cathedral and the Belgrade bishop, Stjepan Puc, commissioned the installation of the main altar in front of the Gotal family tomb. According to the commissioner’s wish, Joseph Stallmayer sculpted the figure of Death which, tearing apart the deceased family’s coat-of-arms refers to the transience of human life and pro memoria, to the memory of the Gotal family.