Barthel Bruyn the Younger, “Portrait of a Woman of the Slosgin Family of Cologne” (1557), oil on wood (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic unless noted) Rings are one of the most personal and ...

They may appear morbid by today’s standards, but at the turn of the 16th century, they were the height of fashion: palm-sized ivory carvings of skulls, mirrored by human faces, that represent status, ...

While skulls and skeletons have assumed a scary, morbid and often occultish connection, the religious sister says that’s not the case if viewed with the right frame of mind. The book cover of ‘Memento ...

Many of us expect, almost demand, to live a long life, in good health. Many of us won’t. Djuliet, CC BY-NC “Memento mori” means, literally, “remember death.” In the early 21st century, we in the ...