August Brömse (1873-1925) was born in Bohemia and trained both in Prague and Berlin. His early graphic work, on which his reputation chiefly rests, shows the influence of prints by the German Symbolists such as Max Klinger. This print, one of his best, comes from the series 'The Girl and Death' produced in Berlin 1901-2, and shows Death (a skeleton) playing a violin at the dark entrance of what appears to be a tomb. The series is a modern variant on the theme of the Dance of Death; it has macabre and decadent qualities, but the drawing is refined and meticulous. The main etched lines are printed in black from a conventional copper plate, enhanced by the overall use of a greenish colour tint applied by a second plain tone-plate. The print has been signed by the printer, O. Felsing of Berlin, as well as the artist. Felsing was widely regarded as one of the finest printers of artists' etchings of his generation. He signed only a handful of prints which he considered to be the best of the early impressions pulled from the plates entrusted to him.