Axial Commons Image Treasury
Ink and wash drawing of a crowd of figures in a bacchanal, with three skeletons in draped cloaks looming at upper right over the tangle of bodies.

Triumph of Death: Three Skeletons Invading a Bacchanal Orchestrated by a Magician or an Evil Demon

A pale wash-and-graphite drawing on two joined sheets shows a crowd of nude and draped figures in a tangle of revelry. On the right, three skeletal figures in red-tinted drapery loom above the frenzied group, while sketched figures fill the left sheet.

Artist
Henry Fuseli
Date
1770–71
Medium
Graphite, with brush and gray wash, on cream laid paper (left sheet); graphite, pen and black ink, and brush and reddish-gray wash, on ivory
Source
Art Institute of Chicago
Size
1686 × 1044 px
Download full size
Public domain · Art Institute of Chicago releases this image under CC0 (latest date 1771).
Rights checked 2026-11-05 · tier A · as stated by the source: CC0 (Art Institute of Chicago, is_public_domain=true)

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection

Español: Triunfo de la muerte: tres esqueletos irrumpen en una bacanal

Un dibujo de aguada gris y grafito, sobre dos hojas unidas, muestra una multitud de figuras desnudas y drapeadas enredadas en un tumulto festivo. A la derecha, tres figuras esqueléticas con ropajes teñidos de rojo se alzan sobre el grupo, mientras el pliego izquierdo solo contiene bocetos.

Português: Triunfo da Morte: três esqueletos invadem uma bacanal

Um desenho em aguada cinza e grafite, sobre duas folhas unidas, mostra uma multidão de figuras nuas e drapeadas emaranhadas em um tumulto festivo. À direita, três figuras esqueléticas com vestes tingidas de vermelho pairam sobre o grupo, enquanto a folha da esquerda traz apenas esboços.

More from Vanitas and Memento Mori

Gouache painting of a skull and crossbones in a cloud, a streaking comet, lightning, and a stormy sky over dark hills.Portents of death and destruction. Gouache, ca. 1910 (?).Oval portrait miniature of a woman in a white bonnet and white shawl, set in a gold frame on a gray background.Mary (Polly) Lawton BringhurstEngraving of a seated woman in a feathered headdress beside a table with a ewer, smoke and flame behind her, framed by ornamental calligraphic lettering.Vanitas Vanitatum et Omnia VanitasMonochrome vanitas engraving: a seated nude woman, a figure holding up a parrot, a child with fruit, and a skull among bubbles.Allegorie op de vergankelijkheid (Vanitas)Two grey drawings of human skulls on a grey mount: a side view at top and a frontal view below labelled as the skull of the painter Raphael.The skull of the painter Raphael: frontal view. Lithograph by Engelmann after C.P. Mazer.Engraved plate titled Physiognomy with an older man's profile, several skulls in side view, a small ape skull, and a gridded frontal face.A profile of an old mentally disabled man, skulls of various races, skulls of a monkey and