His obsession with mortality seems to have arisen with the fact that his name was, literally, a synonym for skull.
His obsession with mortality seems to have arisen with the fact that his name was, literally, a synonym for skull. Despite being called an atheist, he painted the Dead Christ, the Passion of Christ, and Madonna of Burgomaster Mayer.  In his time, he was also famous for illustrations of Erasmus's Praise of Folly and designs for the title pages of Martin Luther's translation of the Bible and Sir Thomas More's Utopia.  His early woodcuts like Dance of Death explored the same motif as his most famous painting, The Ambassadors.  FTP, name this German artist who served as court painter to Henry VIII of England.
His obsession with mortality seems to have arisen with the fact that his name was, literally, a synonym for skull.
Hans Holbein the Younger