WA2K Radio is now on the air, Part 3

'The Knight and his Companion', 1887. The Knight in this cartoon is Prince Bismarck of Germany. A General Election had been held in Germany in mid-February 1887 and resulted in a healthy majority for Bismarck. However, the Socialists made great gains, reflecting the growth of socialist support, especially in Berlin where they gained some 40% of the vote.

Knight, Death and the Devil (German: Ritter, Tod und Teufel) is a large 1513 engraving, one of the three "master prints" of the German artist Albrecht Dürer. The print portrays an armoured knight, accompanied by his faithful dog, riding through a narrow gorge flanked by a goat-headed devil and the figure of death riding a pale horse. Death holds an hourglass to remind the knight of the shortness of his life. The rider moves through the scene ignoring or looking away from the creatures lurking around him. He appears to be almost contemptuous of the threats, and as such is often seen to be a symbol of courage.

Death, the Devil, and the landscape are all rendered in a bleakly northern manner. The surrounding characters are threatening to the knight, who is seemingly protected by the literal and figurative armor of his faith. It is believed by some art historians to be linked with publications of the Dutch humanist and theologian Erasmus's Enchiridion militis Christiani (Handbook of a Christian soldier). The engraving draws from Psalm 23; "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil". Knight, Death and the Devil is dated and signed by the artist; the bottom left of the tablet is scribed "S. (=Salus/in the year of grace) 1513."