Käthe Kollwitz, Young Girl in the Lap of Death, sheet 2 of the series »Death«, 1934, crayon lithograph, Kn 265 b, Cologne Kollwitz Collection © Käthe Kollwitz Museum Köln

In this sheet, Death takes on the role of a consoler. Death appears as a prototypical maternal figure – not as a skeleton – to a young woman who sits in the figure’s lap, wistfully nestling up to her. The woman’s shaded eyes and her open mouth create the impression that she is already dead.