The Dance of Death

Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre (French), Danza Macabra (Italian and Spanish) or Totentanz (German), is a late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter one’s station in life, the dance of death unites all. La Danse Macabre consists of the personified death leading a row of dancing figures from all walks of life to the grave—typically with an emperor, king, pope, monk, youngster, beautiful girl, all skeletal. They were produced to remind people of how fragile their lives were and how vain the glories of earthly life were (more at Wikipedia).

Originally the Dance of Death was a species of spectacular play akin to the English moralities (see this entry at the Catholic Encyclopedia for more on the history of this form of late-medieval play). With the development of this art the dance of death naturally became a popular theme for the engraver. In 1892 e.g. Hans Holbien (1497-1543) produced forty-two wood cuts of the Dance of Death. In the two images from this series below, death (represented by a skeleton) visits both the rich man and the peddlar alike: (link to all images)

Another example from the book Essai Historique, Philosophique et Pittoresque sur les Danses des Morts. by E.-H. Langlois (French link) (1852). The frontispiece of this pioneering study of the danse macabre theme shows death attended by demons, leading a placid woman into grave. The pose of both reminds one in fact of the chevalier at the ball, with his waltzing partner.