The image titled “The New Married Lady” is one of the later woodcut scenes in the Dance of Death series attributed to Hans Holbein, in which Death abruptly interrupts the comfortable life of a newly married woman to underline the brevity and uncertainty of worldly happiness.

In this edition, “The New Married Lady” sits within a sequence that moves through all ranks and conditions of society, showing Death as an uninvited guest at moments of pleasure, power, or security; here, Death’s intrusion into a seemingly idyllic domestic or romantic scene emphasizes how quickly fortunes, beauty, and social position can be overturned. Bohn’s 1858 edition was aimed at Victorian readers with antiquarian interests, combining Holbein-derived imagery, Douce’s extensive historical dissertation, and additional “Bible cuts” to present the series not just as a moral emblem book, but as a carefully edited monument of Renaissance religious art and Reformation-era satire.

This is an antique item from the 1858 edition of Holbein's Dance of Death, published in London by Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. See photo for exact citation.