LA Poretentosa Vida de la Muerte

One of my new favorite blogs is "Morbid Anatomy". They recently had a guest post by Salvador Olguin who had recently given a lecture which they attended:

One of the most interesting things Olguin touched on in his lecture was a book I had never heard of: the fantastically illustrated (see above) La Portentosa Vida de la Muerte (The Astounding Life of Death). This book--a kind of whimsical and irreverent life history of Death in the form of a woman--was published in Mexico in the 18th Century and was, as he explains, highly influential in Mexican culture.... [click here to read more!]

The images that accompany the post are all from La Portentosa..., and remind me A LOT of images from the Tarot, which, according to lore, was coming into being in the late 15th Century. Though, the Tarot supposedly follows the "life of the Fool". Fascinating. I will look for this book in the library.