Hans Holbeins 16thcentury masterpiece The Dance of Death reminds its readers that no one no matter their rank or position can escape the great leveller Death. In a foreboding series of woodcuts Death depicted as a skeleton intrudes on the lives of people from every level of society from the sailor to the judge the ploughman to the king. By highlighting our common fate Holbein exposes the folly of greed and ambition and in doing so brings a corrupt and callous elite crashing back down to earth.