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Start Over Collection University of Virginia Medical Illustrations collection, 1720/1969, bulk 0

"Death and Life Contrasted__or, An Essay on Man" by Robert Dighton, 1792 Box 7, MS-67, Item 4

This satirical response to "fast living" centers on a figure whose left side is a skeleton holding a spade before a tombstone lettered with a quote from Romans 6.23, "The wages of sin is death," with other biblical admonishments below. The figure's right side is fashionably dressed living aristocrat standing in a parkland with a temple similar to one at Stowe in Buckinghamshire. Emblems of the Order of the Garter are part of the man's dress and items that refer to gambling and partying are strewn around his buckled shoe. These include part of a "EO" wheel (an 18th century game similar to roulette), dice and a shaker, cards, and a masquerade ticket to the Pantheon in London. A scroll that confirms the man's "Pedigree" suggests that rank offers no protection from mortality.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. University of Virginia Medical Illustrations collection, 1720/1969, bulk 0

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