Georg Heym’s short novel ‘The Thief’ and Thomas Mann’s novella ‘Gladius Dei’ have several traits in common, as both revert to Savonarola’s Florentine iconoclasm. Heinrich Mann’s short novel ‘Pippo Spano’ however may well have served as a direct model for Heym, because here art is questioned generally as opposed to the incarnation of life represented by a woman, but particularly due to a recurring motif: the masklike dressing of a face with a piece of art (manuscript or painting) which is burned subsequently.