Gross & Tonjola

Gross, Urbis Basil., 1623
Gross, Urbis Basil., 1623
After the Turk, Gross mistakenly includes 4 lines to a satyr.
Gross, the Turk and the satyr

Huldrich Frölich's description of the dance of death along with Scharffenberg's woodcuts were re-published for almost 300 years by the family Mechel and others. But at the same time Frölich's text also survived in another form - i.e. in Johann Georg Gross' "Urbis Basil[iensis], epitaphia et inscriptiones " from 1623.

This book contains (as revealed by the title) the text from all epitaphs and inscriptions in Basel. Frölich's epitaph is on page 41, "Hvldrico Frölich, Poëtæ laureato […] θ. An. M. DC. X. III. Febr.".

Pages 423 to 438 contain the entire text from Basel's dance of death — including the child and the Turk.

Gross has simply copied the dance text from one of Frölich's books. This is obvious because in these books Frölich's has a dream, where he shows an imaginary "satyr" around in the city of Basel. The chapter about the dance of death ends with: »Hiemit die Reüm des Todtentanz, O Satyre sich enden gantz« (= "Hereby, oh Satyr, the rhymes of the dance of death ends totally"). Gross has evidently thought that these lines were a part of the dance of death, and he has copied them along with the rest of the text.

Tonjola, Basilea Sepulta, 1661
Toniola, 1661
Basilea Sepulta, 1661
Tonjola, Basilea Sepulta

After the death of Gross, publication of the book was taken over by Johann Tonjola, who continued with the publication of Basilea Sepulta.

The various editions were continuously updated: Gross expanded the commemorative plaques at the end of the Dance of Death to add the names of the sponsors behind the restoration in 1616. Tonjola further expanded the plaques with the sponsors behind the restoration in 1658.

The text from the dance of death itself, on the other hand, was not touched. The child and the Turk remained there, even though they had long since disappeared from the mural, while Adam & Eve never were added. The text still ended with the four lines addressing Frölich's satyr.

Gross and Tonjola can't be accused of having done any independent work, but they have helped spreading the text from Basel's dance of death — including the child and the Turk — and thus increased the fame of the painting.

Curiously enough, there is not so much as a hint that there existed a dance of death in Kleinbasel, even though they allocate four pages to inscriptions from the Klingenthal monastery.

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