Rudolf Feyerabend
One gets the best overview of Basel's dance of death from Feyerabend's watercolour.
Feyerabend painted his watercolour in 1806 -
the year after the mural had been demolished.
Feyerabend therefore had to seek support in
Chovin's
copperplates, and he cannot be considered a true eyewitness.
Rudolf Feyerabend, Basel's dance of death
Feyerabend deviates much from Merian and Chovin when it comes to Adam & Eve.
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On the other hand one must assume that Feyerabend still had the dance of death fresh in memory,
and that he has made sure, for instance, to get the figures in the proper sequence.
Therefore Feyerabend's watercolour is the quickest way to get an overview.
Notice that at the end of the dance - between the peasant and
the painter -
there's a picture of Adam and Eve with unicorn and eagle,
which takes up the exact same space as 2 dance couples.
Some scholars assume that this is where the child
and Turk have been,
and that they have both been replaced by the Paradise-scene
after Emanuel Bock's restoration 1614-1616.
The painter and his wife and son
had disappeared long before 1806, so
Feyerabend had to copy
Chovin's copperplates,
and he has placed them in the same inverted sequence
that ultimately goes back to
Merian.
Feyerabend: merchant.
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Merian (detail)
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It is sometimes stated that Feyerabend has used
Merian's prints, but
one of the differences between Merian and Chovin is
that Chovin has added trees and buildings
in the background of the scenes following the taste of the Baroque period.
Feyerabend includes these new details and he also decorates
the ossuary
with ivy like
Chovin does.
But Feyerabend must still have had a peek at Merian's copper plates, for
in the scene with the merchant (to the left),
Chovin includes the Merian family's coat of arms on the package (to the right).
Feyerabend
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Church
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Destruction
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Destruction
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In this Section about Basel
Dances of death
Basel
Feyerabend
