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I 1794 blev Hollars kobbertryk udgivet efter en lang pause. I den anledning skrev Francis Douce — anonymt — et forord med en historisk gennemgang af dødedanse, samt en beskrivelse af hver af de 30 scener.
Dette essay (og beskrivelserne) blev gentaget i oplagene i 1804 og 1816. I 1825 blev det brugt til udgivelsen af den falske Bewick.
Senere, i 1833, blev Douce berømt som forfatter af "The Dance of Death Exhibited in elegant engravings […]", der kan læses mange steder på Nettet, bl.a. på Project Gutenberg, men dette essay, som den unge Douce skrev knap fyrre år tidligere, er sværere at finde.
Jeg bruger ikke samme linjeskift, som Douce, så jeg har markeret hans citater med skrå bogstaver på en svagt blå baggrund. Jeg har også tilføjet enkelte kommentarer på papir-baggrund:
THE celebrity of a subject which has been distinguished by the labours of such artists as Holbein and Hollar, seems necessarily to demand some investigation of its origin*.
* It would be a piece of injustice not to mention, that this has already been done in a very able manner by a respected friend of the compiler of the present essay, in a little work, intitled "Emblems of Mortality," ornamented with copies in wood of the Dance of Death, by J. Bewick, the brother of the admirable artist who executed the cuts to a history of quadrupeds, lately
In the dark ages of monkish bigotry and superstition, the deluded people, terrified into a belief that the fear of death was acceptable to the great Author of their existence, had placed one of their principal gratifications in contemplating it amidst ideas the most horrid and disgusting: hence the frequent descriptions of mortality in all its shapes amongst their writers,
published. The work was printed for T. Hodgson, Clerkenwell, in 1789, 12mo. The editor of it will immediately perceive that no rivality is here intended ; that in the pursuit of a subject of this nature many of the same authorities must have naturally presented themselves, and, in order to connect it properly, must again be of course adopted. Independently of these, the rest of this slight performance is only designed as supplemental.
and the representations of this kind in their books of religious offices, and the paintings and sculptures of their ecclesiastic buildings. They had altogether lost sight of the consolatory doctrines of the Gospel, which regard death in no terrific point of view whatever ; a discovery reserved for the discernment of modern and enlightened Christians, who contemplate scenes which excited gloom and melancholy in the minds of their fore-fathers, with the gratification of philosophic curiosity. Some exceptions, however, to this remark are not wanting, for we may yet trace the imbecility of former ages in the decorations of many of our monuments, tricked out in all the silly ornaments of deaths heads and marrow-bones.
The most favourite subject of the kind however, was what is usually denominated the Dance of Death, or a representation of Death in the act of leading all ranks and conditions of men to the grave ; with gesticulations not a little bordering upon the grotesque, though probably without any view to provoke the mirth of the spectator in those times. One of the most antient still exiting, is that at Basil in Switzerland, in the church-yard formerly belonging to the Convent of Dominicans, which is said to have been painted at the instance of the fathers and prelates assisting at the grand council at Basil, in 1431, in memory of a plague which happened soon afterwards, and during its continuance. The name of the painter is
Dødedansen i Basel blev revet ned i 1805, så den fandtes stadig, da Douce skrev dette essay,
unknown, and will probably ever remain so, for no dependence can be had upon the vague conjectures of those, who, without any authority, or even the smallest probability, have attempted to ascertain it. To refute, or even to mention the blunders which have been committed by most of the travellers who have described the town of Basil, when they discuss this subject, would fill a volume: it will be sufficient to notice an assertion of Keysler, that the painting was executed by Hans Bok, a celebrated painter of this place, who, however, from the testimony of Scheutzer, in his Itinerary, was not born till 1584. From some inscriptions on the spot it appears to have been retouched, or perhaps renewed,
Johann Georg Keyßler: »for several reasons the death's dance […] may be presumed not to be Holbein's but the work of another artist whose name was Bock;« (Travels through Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy and Lorrain, 1760, s. 170).
Hans Bock har ikke malet dansen i Basel, men han har
tegnet en kopi af de to første dansepar:
in 1566 and 1616 ; the first time probably by Hans Klauber, whose name occurs in the lines addressed by Death to the Painter.
It has been frequently supposed that the Basil painting was the first of the kind, but this is extremely doubtful, from the knowledge we have of many others of apparently equal antiquity. Many of the bridges in Germany and Switzerland were ornamented in this manner, a specimen of which is still to be seen at Lucerne ; and it is probable that almost every church of eminence was decorated with a Dance of Death. In the cloisters of St. Innocent's church at Paris, in those belonging to the old Cathedral of St. Paul at London, and in St. Mary's church
Dansen blev renoveret i 1568 af Hans Klauber, der selv optræder på maleriet i rollen som maleren.
Den blev restaureret igen i 1614-1616 at Emanuel Bock, søn af den Hans Bock, der fejlagtigt blev udnævnt til skaber af maleriet (se forrige side).
Desuden blev maleriet restaureret i 1657/58 af Hans Georg Meyer, der måske satte sit mærke på den unge mands ben, og igen i 1703 af Benedikt og Hans Georg Becker.
at Berlin, these paintings were to be seen. At Klingenthal, a convent in the Little Basil, are the remains of a Dance of Death, differently designed from that at the Dominicans, and thought to be more antient. The figures remaining till very lately in Hungerford's chapel, in the Cathedral at Salisbury, and known by the title of Death and the Young Man, were undoubtedly part of a Death's Dance, as might be further insisted on from the fragment of another compartment which was close to them. In the church at Hexham, in Northumberland, are the remains of a Death's Dance ; and at Fescamps, in Normandy, it is carved in stone, between the pillars of a church ; the figures are about eighteen inches high. Even fragments of painted glass,
Det er overraskende, at Douce tager Berlin med på listen over dødedanse. Dansen var kalket over, og indtil den blev opdaget i 1865 — 71 år efter at Douce skrev ovenstående — var der ingen, der anede, at der var en dødedans på væggen.
Læs mere om det ukendte maleri i Berlin
Fescamps er formentlig Fécamp, hvor der engang skulle have været en dødedans. I 1833 i "The Dance of Death Exhibited" omtaler Douce værket i datid: »On the pillars of the church at Fescamp, in Normandy, the Dance of Death was sculptured in stone«.
Jeg er ikke enig med Douce i, at de to danse i Basel er "differently designed". Denne side skulle gerne vise, hvor ens de var: De to danse i Basel.
whereon this subject has been depicted, with old English verses over the figures, may contribute to shew how very common it has been in our own country. P. C. Hilscher, in a tract printed at Dresden, in 1705, has taken notice of other Dances of Death at Dresden, Annaberg, Leipzig, and Berne. Dr. Nugent has described one in St. Mary's church at Lubeck, which he states to have been painted in 1463.
The origin of all these is perhaps to be sought for in an antient pageant, or religious farce, invented by the clergy, for the purpose of at once amusing and keeping the people in ignorance. In this all ranks and conditions of life were personated and mixed together in
Læs meget mere om Hilscher og dødedansen i Dresden.
Her er teksten fra dødedansen i Bern.
Thomas Nugent besøgte Lübeck og oversatte dødedansen til engelsk. I Hamburg beskrev han et æsel, der spiller sækkepibe.
a general dance, in the course of which every one in his turn vanished from the scene, to shew that none were exempted from the stroke of death. This dance was performed in the churches, and can be traced back as far as the year 1424 ;* it was called the Dance of Macaber, from a German poet of that name, who first composed some verses under the same title. Of this person very little is known, but Fabricius thinks the poem more antient than the paintings.† His work has been translated into Latin and French, in the last of which languages there are some very antient and very modern editions.
* Glossar, Carpentier, Tom. II. 1103.
† Bibl. med. & infim. Ætat
Fabricius er Johann Albert Fabricius (1668-1736). Jeg læser ikke latin, så jeg har ikke gennempløjet "Bibliotheca Latina mediae et infimae Aetatis" for at se, hvorfor han mener, at digtet er mere "antient" end maleriet.
La Danse Macabre kan dateres til 1424 og er altså 66 år ældre end the latinske oversættelse. Med hensyn til denne oversættelse og "den tyske poet Macaber", se Chorea ab eximio Macabro.
The earliest allusion to the subject, but whether to the above-mentioned farce or to the paintings seems uncertain, is in the following lines, from the visions of Pierce the plowman, who wrote about 1350.
Death came drivynge after, and all to dust pashed
Kynges and kaysers, knightes and popes
Learned and lewde, he ne let no man stande
That he hitte even, he never stode after.
Many a lovely ladie, and lemmans of knights
Swonned and swelted, for sorow of deathes dyntes.
When the arts of printing and engraving became established, various copies of the Dance of Macaber made their appearance, particularly in the Hours, Breviaries, Missals, and other service books of the church, few of
which were unaccompanied with a Dance of Death ; and in these the designs sometimes varied. Many of our own service books for the use of Salisbury were thus decorated, and the fashion at length terminated in a book of Christian prayers, printed more than once during the reign of Elizabeth, since which time nothing of the kind has appeared. In all these are to be found the same dull and uniform representation of Death leading a single figure, without much attempt at character or execution, until at length there appeared, in 1538, a book, intitled "Les simulachres & historiees faces de la mort, autant elegamment pourtraictes, que artificiellement imaginees." It was printed at Lyons by Melchior and Gaspar Trechsel, and is accompanied
De franske tidebøger var fyldt med dekorationer i marginen. I England gjaldt det især den bog, Douce nævner: a book of Christian prayers.
Det som Douce totalt overser er, hvordan disse tidebøger har inspireret Holbein.
with forty-one of the most beautiful groupes of figures that can be well conceived, both for their composition and execution, being most delicately cut on wood, and surpassing in this branch of art almost every thing of the kind that has appeared before or since. This work was often republished, as well in the French, as in the Latin and Italian languages,* and has been usually deno-
* The following is presumed to be a tolerably correct list of the various editions of this book:
"Simulachres & historiees faces de la mort, &c." Lugd. 1538. 4to.
"Imagines de morte." Lugd. 1542. 12mo.
"Imagines mortis." Lugd. 1545. 12mo.
"Imagines mortis." Lugd. 1547. 12mo.
"Les images de la mort." Lyon 1547. 12mo.
"Simolachri, historie, e figure de la morte." Lyone
En gennemgang af de forskellige oplag af Holbeins træsnit.
minated, by most of the writers upon the arts of painting and engraving, as well as by many travellers, Holbein's Dance of Death. It is
1549. 12mo. with an address from the printer, in which he complains of some attempts having been made in other countries to imitate the cuts to his book, and informs the reader, that he had caused many more cuts to be added to this edition than had appeared in any other ; a declaration not a little extraordinary, for both the editions of 1547, which were also published by this person, have the same number of cuts, and contain twelve more than the three first editions. These additional cuts were probably executed from the unfinished designs spoken of in the dedication to the first edition. Four of them, being groupes of children playing, are rather foreign to the subject, but are evidently done by the same artist who executed the others.
"Icones mortis," Basil, 1554. 12mo.
Den italienske udgave i 1549 blev fremstillet, efter at Vincenzo Valgrisi i Venedig havde udgviet en "uautoriseret" version med kopier af Holbeins træsnit.
extremely clear, however, that Holbein did not invent these subjects, for it appears in a dedication, which is only to be found in the first edition of this work, that the Painter was then dead, and that he had not lived to finish some of the designs, which, however, afterwards appeared in a subsequent edition. The Painter must therefore have died before 1538, and it is well known that Holbein was at
"Les images de la mort, auxquelles sont adjoustees dix sept figures." Lyon, 1562. 12mo. There are but five additional figures to this edition, the other twelve being what had already appeared, making in the whole seventeen more than in the first edition. Of these five cuts, which have all the delicacy of the others, three are groupes of boys.
"De doot vermaskert, &c." Antwerp, 1654. 12mo.
Douce mener, at De doodt vermaskert indeholder ægte Holbein-træsnit.
Det gør den ikke.
this time living, and continued so until 1555. Unluckily no evidence whatever, nor even tradition, has been preserved relating to this great artist, and it is to be feared that he will ever remain undiscovered.
After what has been said it becomes necessary to attempt at least to give some reason for the almost universal opinion, that these designs were the offspring of Holbein's pencil. Most of those writers who have described the town of Basil, as well as the compilers of the lives of the Painters, speak of a Dance of Death by Holbein, some referring to the old Dance of Macaber, and others to the more modern one ; but it is not difficult to see that they have but transcribed from
I dag menes det, at Holbein døde allerede i 1543, men det ændrer ikke ved Douce's argument.
each other, without taking any pains to examine the subject. Certain it is, however, that Holbein did paint a Death's Dance in its improved state, and likewise more than once. Bishop Burnet, in his travels in Switzerland, speaks of a Dance of Death, painted by Holbein, "on the walls of a house where he used to drink," which was then so worn out that very little was to be seen except shapes and postures. He then mentions the old Death's Dance at the Dominicans convent*, which he says was "so worn out some time ago, that they ordered the best painter they had to lay new colours on it; but this is ill done, that one had rather see the dead
* By mistake called the Convent of the Augustinians.
Citatet er forkert. Gilbert Burnet omtaler en dance på en husvæg, men fortæller ikke, hvad slags dans: »There is also a Dance that he painted on the VValls of an House where he used to drink, […]« (side 265).
"shadows of Holbein's pencil, (i. e. on the walls of the house,) than this coarse work."
This account is corroborated by Keysler, who adds, that the painting on the house was then entirely obliterated. Patin, in his travels, also speaks of a house at Basil, curiously painted by Holbein, but does not mention the subject; it was probably the same as Burnet saw. These are the only travellers who have spoken upon this subject with any degree of accuracy, and fortunately their testimony throws much light upon it.
To the book already mentioned to have been published by the Trechsels, at Lyons, they sometimes annexed another, which was
Burnet fortæller, at Basels berømte dødedans, er så klodset overmalet, at man heller ville have set »the dead shadows of Holbein's pencil« ("pencil" betyder en tynd pensel).
Douce mener, at disse "døde skygger" er en hentydning til dansen på det forrige hus, men som Rumohr påpeger, giver det ikke mening, eftersom dette maleri ikke var overmalet. Tværtimod har Burnet lige fortalt, at det var »so worn out that very little was to be seen except shapes and postures«.
Rumohr fortolker i stedet Burnets ord, som at han troede, den berømte dødedans var malet af Holbein (hvilket er en udbredt misforståelse), og at han hellere ville have set de sørgelige rester af Holbeins pensel, end den dårlige overmaling.
in some degree connected with it, and appears to have been printed by them the following year. This was entitled, "Historiarum veteris testamenti icones," the cuts of which are in some instances much inferior to the others, and apparently by a different artist. The designs of these are indisputably by Holbein, as appears from some verses before the book, composed by Nicolas Bourbon, a cotemporary poet, who also wrote some lines upon a Dance of Death, painted by Holbein*. To these cuts to the Bible, are prefixed the first four which occur in the Dance of Death, as they likewise belong to the subject, and represent the creation and fall of man; but they are
*Borbonii Nugarum libri octo. Basil 1540. 12mo. p. 445.
different in size, and were added, not only from the analogy of the subjects, but from the circumstance of their being already in the hands of the printer; and thus, from an odd coincidence of things, as well as a palpable confusion of the respective verses of Bourbon, seems to have originated an opinion that Holbein invented the Dance of Death.
But it has not only been asserted that Holbein designed, but that he engraved, or rather cut this Dance of Death on wood. That he practised this art, nay that he excelled in it, there is reason to believe, from some specimens that have been preserved, and which bear on them the unequivocal marks
of H. H. & HANS. HOLBEN*. A
set of cuts with the latter mark occurs
in Archbishop Cranmer's Catechism, printed
by Walter Lyne in 1548; and
although the composition of these is extremely
good, their execution is not only
inferior to the Dance of Death, but
entirely different in its manner: and the
mark of which is to be seen upon
one of the cuts in this latter work, has
been ascribed without any authority to Holbein,
upon the strength of the vague opinions
* It is not however impossible that Holbein, in putting his mark upon these cuts, might only intend to shew that he designed them, or drew the subject upon the blocks.
Her formoder jeg (ligesom Rumohr side 134, venstre spalte), at
er en fejl.
I »this latter work« — altså dødedansen — er der graveret
på
hertugindens sengestolpe.
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concerning his interference with the Dance of Death*.
The great popularity and success of these cuts very soon excited many imitations of them both in copper and on blocks. In 1541 Aldegrever engraved eight of them, but with very material alterations. Other editions of the Imagines Morris, which had been first published under that title in 1545, appeared in 1555, 1566, 1573, and probably at many other times; these were also
* This mark is also given by Professor Christ, in his Dictionnaire des Monogrammes to Hans Lautensack, and Hans Lederer, persons of whom absolutely nothing is known.
Heinrich Aldegrever var den første til at kopiere Holbeins træsnit.
Udgaverne fra 1555, 1566, 1573 er kopier udgivet i Köln af Arnold Birckmanns efterfølgere. Udover de latinske "Imagines Mortis" var der også høj- og plattyske oplag.
accompanied with cuts in wood by a very
eminent but unknown artist, whose mark
is . This mark is also to be found
in some of the emblems of Sambucus and
Lejeune, in some initial letters to
Grafton's Chronicle, and in other cuts
executed during the sixteenth century*. It
*The inaccurate Papillon, who in matters of historical discussion is hardly ever to be trusted, has asserted in his "Traitè de la gravure en bois," that this is the mark of Silvius Antonianus, or Antoniano. Having found it upon some cuts, in an edition of Faerno's fables, printed at Antwerp in 1567, with a dedication to Cardinal Borromeo, by Silvius Antoniano, he instantly conceived that he had discovered the name of the artist in that of the author of the dedication. The fact is that Antoniano was no engraver, but a professor of belles lettres at Rome, afterwards secretary to Pope Pius V. and at length a Cardinal. His
Douce kalder den ukendte skaber af kopierne fra Köln »a very eminent but unknown artist«.
Senere, i 1833, havde Douce en knap så positiv holdning til denne "eminente kunstner":
although not devoid of merit, they are not only very inferior to the fine originals, […] there are several variations, always for the worse […] of which a tasteless example is found […]
("The Dance of Death Exhibited, s. 113-114)
is not a little remarkable, that so late as the year 1654 there appeared a Dutch book, printed at Antwerp, where this artist
dedication had already appeared in the first edition of these fables in 1564, which has a different set of cuts engraved on copper. Another of Papillon's blunders it equally curious. He had seen an edition of the emblems of Sambucus with cuts, on which the same mark occurs. In this book is a fine portrait of the author, with his dog, under whom is the word BOMBO, which Papillon gravely informs us is the name of the engraver, and again refers to it on another cut of one of the emblems under a dog also. Had he read the verses belonging to this particular emblem, he would have immediately seen that it was nothing more than the dog's name, as Sambucus himself declares, whilst he pays a laudable tribute to the attachment of the faithful companion of his travels.
worked, entitled, "Doodt vermaskert, or Death masked," accompanied with eighteen cuts of the Dance of Death, which in the title page are ascribed to Holbein. They are all, except three, impressions from the identical blocks of the beautiful and original cuts of this subject; but the above-mentioned artist has had the effrontery to put his mark, together with the figure of a graving tool or knife, upon several of them. It is however possible that he might have repaired them, as some of the smaller lines, which in former impressions seem to have been injured, are here much stronger.
It might be tedious to describe all the imitations of the Dance of Death which have
Douce mener, at De doodt vermaskert indeholder ægte Holbein-træsnit.
Det gør den ikke.
Når Douce skriver "the above-mentioned
artist", hentyder han til kunstneren i Köln fra side 21-22, der dekorerede nogle af sine træsnit
med et stort .
Der er nemlig et lignende bogstav på nogle af
træsnittene i De Doodt vermaskert, som Douce altså tror er Holbeins originale træsnit.
Jeg ved ikke, hvordan Douce havde forestillet sig, at en træskærer, der var aktiv i Köln 1555, kunne dukke op 100 år senere i Antwerpen i 1654. Og hvordan bærer man sig overhovedet ad med at tilføje detaljer til et træsnit?
appeared at different times, as they are exceedingly numerous ; but it would be unpardonable not to notice an alphabet of initial letters with this subject, which for humour and excellence of design, are even superior to the celebrated one ; and with respect to execution, especially when their minuteness is considered, being less than an inch square, absolutely wonderful. Their composition is entirely different from that of any of the others, and one of them is extremely indecent. They appear to have been done at Basil; for in the public library there is preserved a sheet, whereon are printed three alphabets, viz. the one above mentioned, another of boys at play, and the third a dance of peasants, &c. The designs of some of
Det er næsten 100% sikkert, at Douce har disse oplysninger om biblioteket i Basel fra Christian von Mechel — enten fra et personligt møde i London (beskrevet af Douce i "The Dance of Death Exhibited" side 133-134) eller fra et brev fra Mechel til Gottlieb von Murr, som er trykt på tysk i Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, bind 16, side 11 og på fransk af Brulliot i Dictionnaire de monogrammes, spalte 418-419.
En del af disse oplysninger er ikke korrekte. For eksempel at de tre alfabeter skulle være trykt på ét og samme ark.
Rumohr skyder skylden på "den lidet troværdige Mechel" (»aus dem wenig zuverlässigen Chr. v. Mecheln«) og spørger sine læsere, om nogen med adgang til biblioteket i Basel venligst vil verificere, om der findes et sådant ark (Kunst-Blatt, 1823, Nr. 31-34).
Peter Vischer tog opfordringen op samme sommer (Kunst-Blatt Nr. 59). Han fandt intet ark med tre alfabeter, men et ark med alle 24 bogstaver i Holbeins alfabet, hvor der forneden stod: "HAnns Lützelburger / formschnider/ genant Franck".
the last are the same as those in a similar
Dance by Holbein, formerly painted on a
house at Basil, and of which some drawings
are still preserved; and it is therefore not
improbable that he also designed the Dance of
Death for these initials. They have
apparently been struck off as proofs or patterns for
some bookseller*, and at the bottom of the
sheet is the mark with the words "Hans
Lützelburger Formschneider, (i. e. block-cutter,)
in Basel." In this manner has
* They were actually used by Cratander, a printer at Basil; and other initial letters, with Dances of Death, are to be seen in books printed at Zurich, Strasburg, and Vienna, in the sixteenth century. All the alphabets are in the possession of the compiler of this essay, but they have not the monogram.
Dette er decideret forkert. Der står ikke "HL" forneden på arket med dødedansalfabetet, men kun "H":
Som tidligere nævnt står der "HL" på hertugindens sengestolpe i den store dødedans.
been preserved the name of a most exquisite artist, whom, from the similarity of stile and subject, there is every reason to suppose the person who executed the fine cuts of the first Dance of Death. As he worked after the designs of Holbein, it is also probable that the painter might have invented some of the seventeen subjects which appeared in continuation of the original work, and that Lützelburger also cut them for the subsequent editions. From the extreme delicacy with which the initials with the Dance of Death are executed, there is reason to suppose that they were not cut upon blocks of wood, but of metal, as was probably the larger work of the same subject; and in support of this conjecture it may be observed, that blocks of this
Douce foreslår, at Lützelburger også kunne have skåret de 17 scener, der blev tilføjet i senere oplag, men dette er umuligt, eftersom Lützelburger døde i 1526 — 12 år før det første oplag af Simulachres.
Det er også let at se, at disse 17 scener blev skåret af forskellige kunstnere. Sammenlign for eksempel narren med puttoen.
kind are still preserved in the cabinets of the curious.
In 1780 Chretien de Mechel, a well-known artist and printseller at Basil, published forty-five engravings of a Death's Dance, as part of the works of Holbein, of which he intends to give a series. Mr. Coxe, in his travels, has given some account of this work, and informs us that they are done after some small drawings by Holbein, sketched with a pen, and slightly shaded with Indian ink ; that these drawings were purchased by Mr. Flei[s]chman, of Strasburg, at Crozat's sale at Paris, and are now in the collection of Prince Gallitzin, Minister from the Empress of Russia to the court of Vienna, at which
last place he had frequent opportunities of seeing and admiring them. He further adds that Hollar copied these drawings, an opinion which will admit of some doubt. Mons. De Mechel's remark, that from the dresses and character of several of the figures, it is probable the drawings were sketched in England, as well as Mr. Coxe's conjecture that they were in the Arundelian collection, will appear but slightly founded to any one conversant in the dresses of the French and German nations at that period, to which they bear at least an equal resemblance: again, one of the cuts represents a King sitting at table under a canopy, powdered with Fleurs de lis, whose figure has a remarkable affinity to the portraits of Francis I. If these drawings were copied
Læs mere om Chretien de Mechel / Christian von Mechel.
Det har siden vist sig, at de "originale Holbein-tegninger" var skabt af en meget ung Peter Paul Rubens.
from the celebrated wooden cuts, they must have been done after the year 1547, as eight of them did not appear till that time.
But it has entirely escaped the knowledge of all the biographers of Holbein that he painted a Dance of Death in fresco, upon the walls of the Palace at Whitehall, which was consumed by fire in 1697. This curious fact is ascertained from two sets of nineteen very indifferent etchings from the wooden cuts, by one Nieuhoff ; they were never published, but copies of them presented to the artist's friends, with manuscript dedications in the Dutch language, in which he speaks of the above-mentioned paintings at Whitehall. The book has the following
Her stiger Douce op på sin kæphest: At Holbein havde malet en dødedans på væggene i slottet i Whitehall. Douces tanke er formentlig, at Holbeins berømmelse skulle skyldes et sådant maleri (eller det malede hus i Basel nævnt på side 16-17) og ikke de 41 træsnit, som Douce nægter at tilskrive Holbein.
Som bevis citerer Douce nu fra en lille bog med dårlige kopier af dødedansen (»very indifferent etchings«). Han mener åbenbart, at forfatterens dedikationer skulle bevidne tilstedeværelsen af dette vægmaleri.
Se mere om Nieuhoff Piccard og "The Dead Dance".
title engraved in a border, "Imagines mortis, or the Dead Dance of Hans Holbeyn, Painter of King Henry the VIIIth." The author, in one of these dedications, addressed to the Right Honourable William Benting, informs him, that "he had met with the scarce little work of H. Holbeyn in wood, which he had himself painted as large as life in fresco, on the walls of Whitehall ; that he had followed the original as nearly as possible, and had presumed to lay his copy before him as being born in the same palace ; that he considered the partiality which every one has for the place of his nativity, and that therefore any account of what was curious and remarkable therein, and of what was then no more, as being destroyed by a fatal fire, must
"of course prove acceptable, particularly as there were hardly any more remains of the palace left than his own dwelling." He then states, that the design of the painter resembled that of the founder of the Greek monarchy, who ordered these words to be written, to remind him of his mortality, "Remember, Philip, that thou art a man," and proceeds to describe in a very quaint manner the different subjects of his work. The dedication to the other copy is nearly in similar words, and addressed to Mynheer Heymans, who appears in consideration of his singular merits to have had a dwelling assigned him in the Palace at Whitehall. From the handwriting and Dutch names in this work, it is evidently of the time of William III. but
of the artist no memorial is preserved ; however, the importance of the fact which he has recorded, will render him a valuable personage in the opinion of the lovers of the arts.
After what has been said then, it is to be hoped that no additional evidence will be requisite to shew that Holbein did not invent the subjects, nor execute the cuts belonging to the Dance of Death which is usually ascribed to him ; that he painted it however, and most assuredly more than once, seems to be beyond the possibility of doubt.
It only remains to give some account of the prints which are the immediate object of
Douce bruger meget krudt på denne lille folder, men det er forgæves. Kunstneren skriver ingen steder, at han har så meget som set en dødedans på slottet, og han gør det krystalklart, at han har kopieret nogle træsnit, som han uden forbehold tilskriver Holbein.
Se mere om Nieuhoff Piccard og "The Dead Dance".
this publication, and to which it is hoped the
preceding introduction will not have appeared
uninteresting. It has been commonly
supposed that Hollar copied these prints from
the original cuts, but Mr. Coxe* thinks he
followed the drawings engraved by De Mechel,
which he imagines to have been in the Arundelian
collection. Both these opinions seem
erroneous ; for many of Hollar's prints are
materially different, as well from the cuts,
as the drawings ; and are, with two or
three exceptions, very close copies of the
cuts already mentioned to have been first
published in 1555, with the mark of .†
* Travels in Swisserland.
† It is not a little remarkable that almost the same variations from the original cuts, are to be found in
Nu nærmer vi os det, der skulle være hovedemnet: Hollars kobbertryk. Jeg er enig med Douce i, at Hollar for det meste har baseret sit værk på udgaverne fra Köln (Arnold Birckmanns arvinger) frem for Holbeins originale træsnit.
He must therefore have either had before him both the sets of wooden cuts, or have copied the paintings at Whitehall ; for his acknowledged fidelity would have hardly suffered him to depart from his originals, whatever they were, and as they now remain, they are not correct copies of any single existing model.
Hollar's prints were first published in 1651*, with borders designed by Abraham à
those of the edition of 1555, in De Mechel's prints, and in Hollar's etchings ; a circumstance which renders it probable that these last were all copied from the same originals, which might have been the work of Holbein, to whom the variations may be likewise attributed.
* In 1682 there appeared engraved copies of the Dance of Death, in a work entitled "Theatrum
Diepenbeke, and afterwards without the borders.
In this latter impression the letters
. i. occur upon every print, and are
intended for " Holbein invenit," as appears
from some other of Hollar's prints, which
have upon them these words at length. No
panegyric is here wanting upon the works of
this admirable artist; they are sufficiently
known and esteemed by every collector of
taste, and particularly his Dance of Death.
The plates, which appear to have been but
little used, have been till lately preserved in a
noble family, and impressions from them are
"mortis humanæ," by J. Weichard. These engravings are within borders of fruit, flowers, and animals, which are executed with an uncommon degree of elegance.
Man kunne ønske, at Douce ville give lidt flere detaljer: »The plates, […] have been till lately preserved in a noble family«. Richard Pennington ("A Descriptive Catalogue s. 30") bemærker tørt: »as though it were a recipe for Worcestershire sauce«.
Hvor har de 30 kobberplader befundet sig i over 100 år? Douce skriver stolper op og ned om malede huse i Basel og et formodet maleri på Whitehall, men når det kommer til det centrale emne, er han tavs.
Det er uklart for mig, hvorfor Douce nævner Johann Weichard Valvasor i fodnoten. Måske er det, fordi Weichard også kopierer udgaverne fra Köln i stedet for Holbeins original træsnit, eller måske fordi de første oplag af Hollars kobbertryk havde rammer?
Weichards rammer er ganske rigtigt fyldt med detaljerede tegninger af blomster, fugle, insekter og frugter, og de er alle sammen forskellige, mens Hollar kun benyttede sig af tre.
once more presented to the public, without the least alteration.
Vertue, in his description of Hollar's works, mentions that he engraved a reverse of the first print, an additional one without a border, representing the rich man disregarding the prayers of the poor, and three others from the set after Holbein, with four Latin verses at bottom. He also engraved the six first letters of the alphabet, adorned with small figures of a Death's Dance, and one large plate of the same subject for Dugdale's St. Paul's, and the Monasticon ; but this last plate is only a copy from an old wooden cut prefixed to Lydgate's Dance of Macaber, at the end of his fall of princes, printed by
Hollar fremstillede 4 scener mere, der var tættere kopier af Holbein, nemlig paven, rådsherren, bonden og røveren.
Han fremstillede bogstaverne A-F i et dødedansalfabet og til Dugdale's Monasticon, fremstillede han Hollars originale, hvor Døden henter hele samfundet.
Selvom Douce (og alle andre) er tavse, er det indlysende, at den udgave af Hollar's procession, der er vedlagt alle oplag mellem 1790 og 1816., ikke er Hollars originale. Blandt de tydelige forskelle er fraværet af den store kartouche og fravær af skravering af landskab og personer.
Tottell in 1554, and was not intended to represent the Dance of Death at St. Paul's, as Mr. Warton has supposed*, but only as an emblematical frontispiece to the verses.
* Observ. on Spenser, Vol. II. 117.
Som Douce gør opmærksom på, er Hollar's procession en kopi af det simple træsnit, som Tottel havde trykt i 1554.
Douce mener ikke, at dette billede skal forestille en dødedans, men hvorfor nu det? Tottel brugte netop billedet til at illustrere "The Daunce of Machabree", som engang havde været malet i St. Paul's Katedral i London, og Dugdale brugte Hollar's opdaterede billede i sin bog om St. Paul's Katedralen til et genoptryk af den samme tekst.
John Bewick skabte en lignende frontispice som en illustration af »death seizing all ranks and degrees of people«, og det samme gjorde hans kopister: Anderson. den falske Bewick og den falske falske Bewick.
Det er trods alt, hvad Douce selv skrev i starten af dette essay (side 4): "The most favourite subject of the kind however, was what is usually denominated the Dance of Death, or a representation of Death in the act of leading all ranks and conditions of men to the grave".
Douce hentyder til det forord, der ledsagede udgivelsen af John Bewicks kopier i 1789.
Dette essay var lige så anonymt som Douce's, men er skrevet af John Sidney Hawkins, esq.