Engraving (copper or steel) number 4 of the work The Dance of Death by the engraver Wenceslaus Hollar (Prague 1607 - London 1677) in 1651 in Antwerp; inspired by the 41 drawings of 1522-26 by the German painter Hans Holbein the Younger (Augsburg 1497 - London 1543) woodcut by Lützelberger and published in 1638 in Lyon. Page possibly belonging to the 1804 reprint by John Harding in London.
Edan and Eve recently expelled from Paradise: Adam ploughs the earth accompanied and assisted by Death, while Eve suckles Cain and holds a spinning wheel (biblical image of the industrious woman).
Extracts from Genesis 3,17 and 3,19: maledicta terra in opere tuo: in laboribus comedes (ex ea) cunctis diebus vitæ tuæ......(In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane), donec revertaris (in terram)The earth shall be cursed for thy sake: in pain thou shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life.... (In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread) until thou return (to the earth).