eath presents a skull to The Astrologer. Presumably to show a comparison between the spherical universe and the skull.
Above the head of the astrologer hangs a model of the Universe with the Zodiac,
which is reminiscent of the picture of The Last Judgment.
The astrologer did not appear on most of the printer's proofs, but with the official issue
of Les Simulachres & Historiées in Lyon in 1538
he became an integrated part of the dance of death.
Variations: Birckmann lets the astrologer measure a globe;
the window is made square with a shell-motif above.
Valvasor and Deuchar copies Birckmann.
However, Valvasor ignores the mussel-shell above the window, which shows
that Deuchar has copied Birckmann, and not Valvasor.
Rubens places 2 rulers crosswise on the table, and Mechel replaces them with a real cross.
eath presents a skull to The Astrologer. Presumably to show a comparison between the spherical universe and the skull.
Dances of death
Holbein