Title print with a skull and an hourglass (Memento Mori), from the series "Animal skeletons," 1626, Hendrick Hondius (I), Dutch

In 1626 printmakers Hendrick Hondius I and Andries Jacobsz produced a series of 23 prints, Dierskeletten (Animal skeletons). Each printer engraved 15 prints for the series, which Hondius published. The series depicts animal skeletons as well as personifications of death. Memento Mori is the first print in the series done by Hondius.

"Memento mori" is a Latin phrase meaning "remember you must die," a humbling reminder of life's inevitable end. Artists across cultures and religions have translated the phrase into a visual language of symbols. Renaissance-era artists employed images of skulls, clocks, wilted flowers, and rotten foods. Hondius' version prominently features a skull and an hourglass. The draining hourglass has one bat wing and one feathered wing. Memento mori were closely associated with Christianity during the Renaissance. Therefore, the different wings may symbolize the possibility of heaven or hell after death.