A sick old woman, sitting supported by pillows as a skeleton pounces aiming his spear at her eyes. Woodcut by Tobias Stimmer, 1580.

Arrows and spears were not only weapons, but when brandished by personifications of death, could signify disease especially the plague. It was more than a popular saying that death was like an arrow- silent, swift and always deadly, since this conveyed powerlessness. This depiction is particularly ironic, since the old woman is blind, as is indicated by the mole underneath her chair. She is ignorant of her fate and literally cannot see the approach of death