The general is standing before his tent with wig and tricorne. In the back lie dead soldiers and horses after a recent battle. Death arrives with a bone in his hand, maybe the same bone he used when attacking the soldier?
At the bottom of Götz' watercolour is a handwritten note: »Gezeichnet nach Beck im Martins Stieft in Erfurt 1834 von Theod: Goetz i. Weimar«.
Der Tod zum General oder Ritter: |
Der General: |
The dialogue is a copy af Lübeck's "new" text, but this text is about a knight and therefore doesn't fit well with the general who does not wear an armour of iron.
It's a bit paradoxical that in Lübeck the text goes: »schauet mich in diesen Waffen an« (our oldest source, Pohle, writes the same). Waffen has a long range of meanings, e.g. protection and could also designate the general's light breast-plate. In contrast, Götz and Schröer (quoted above) writes, »in dieser Rüstung« ("in this metal armour"), which unequivocally refers to a medieval knight in plate harness like the one on the painting in Lübeck.