Final Farewell: The Culture of Death and the Afterlife

Funerals, Burials and Mourning

At Albrecht Dürer’s Grave on April 6, 1828 in Nuremberg

Ludwig Emil Grimm was a painter and print maker and the younger brother of the famed Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. He attended the Munich Academy and then spent a brief time in Italy. He preferred to work directly from nature, rather than copying works of old masters and was known mostly for his portraits of romantic poets and their circle of friends.

Grimm worked within the Romantic movement, which stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience. This philosophy carried over into attitudes toward death as well. European Romantic thought encouraged sentimental adoration of the dead, or hero worship. Here, Grimm shows an immense crowd, including musicians who play their horns, gathered around Albrecht Dürer’s grave on the 300th anniversary of his death. Ceremonies for his death were held in many cities but particularly in Nuremberg (his place of birth and residence), where they took on a patriotic, political character. Many artists, including Ludwig Emil Grimm, traveled there to capitalize on the elaborate events.

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