Prince World is a deceptive contemporary.
He once stood at the portal of Nuremberg’s St. Sebaldus Church, as a beautiful figure who greeted people with an inviting smile. But as soon as the believers walked past him, his open cloak revealed the exposed flesh of a back covered in toads, entwined with snakes and eaten to the bone by worms – a warning could hardly be more haunting.
Memento mori!
Prince World is a personification of the transience of earthly things and thus has the same moral significance as his female counterpart, Lady World. He urges repentance, turning away from the beautiful appearance and vices of the world and turning towards spiritual goods. His character is that of a vain seducer, whose beauty is but deceptive and destined to decay. Due to his positioning at the bridal portal of St. Sebaldus, he has often been connected with the parable of the virgins that can be seen there. The Gospel of Matthew tells of the wise, foresighted virgins and the foolish, worldly-minded virgins. The virgins also address the need to prepare the soul for the afterlife, because access to the kingdom of heaven is denied to the foolish. Like them, we too only recognise the transience of beauty and the fatal consequences of rash actions too late, when the prince reveals his back. Since a sculpture is not movable, however, visitors of the church had to walk around the figure, thus actively involving themselves in the discovery and realisation process.
In keeping with the motto ‘memento mori’ (“Remember mortality”), the back of the figure shows the admonishing character of Prince World. The back, eaten down to the bone by snakes, toads and other animals, completely contradicts the radiant vitality and beauty of the front, because the body is transient, the soul is not. In this way, the figure shows its viewers what is of true and lasting value: the salvation of the soul.
