Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl, Ahasuerus at the End of the World, 1888

The legend of the Wandering Jew was born sometime in medieval Europe; the story claims that the Jew Ahasuerus taunted Jesus on his way to be crucified, and was therefore condemned to walk the earth until the second coming of Christ. Here he is a decrepit old man escorted by Death over a polar landscape, trailed by the angel of Hope. Before him lies the dead body of the personification of Humanity frozen facedown into the ice, as ominous crows gather.

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