A Letter to Me and You (Memento Mori)

Anonymous, German, 19th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The concept of "Memento mori" reflects on the insignificance of earthly life in comparison to the enduring experience of the afterlife. This nineteenth-century moralizing double-sided folded letter is addressed to "me and you". It is printed on both sides and reveals various different images and written messages as it is unfolded. On the outside, other than the address to the recipient, a religious illustration is printed. The image begins as Adam depicted alone in Paradise, and then unfolds to show Adam and Eve on either side of the Tree of Wisdom, committing their sin by eating the apple. The image culminates in in the figure of the crucified Christ, and visualizes the sacrifice made to redeem this primordial sin. The other side of the letter addresses worldly sins, and reminds not to care too much for earthly riches. The image begins as a depiction of a well-dressed man and woman in a landscape. By unfolding the letter, the depiction of their lower halves changes to show their skeletons, and below their feet is an image of a corpse being eaten by worms.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art