The von Mechel Family
The front page of the 1740 edition.
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The 1769-edition. Without woodcut.
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One of the first to describe Basel's dance of death
was Huldreich Frölich,
who published the text along with lots of illustrations in
1588 and
1608.
These books were published in very close cooperation with the printer Henripetri,
and after the death of the latter, the printery was taken over by the printer Decker.
In 1681, the daughter of J.J. Decker married Johann Conrad von Mechel,
and for this reason many of the old woodcuts from the workshop of Henripetri appear
in books published by the family Mechel.
The family was active for more than a hundred years.
Here is a short sketch:
- Johann Conrad von Mechel I (1642-1715). Active 1682-1715.
- Johann Conrad von Mechel II (1681-1734). Active 1715/16-1734.
- Anna Maria Christ. Widow after Johann Conrad von Mechel II took over the business under the name
"Johann Conrad von Mechel sel. Wittib" (picture to the left).
In principle active 1734-1777, but with very few publications after 1769
- The twin brothers Johann Conrad III (1730-1812) and Johann Jacob (1730-1799)
were sons of Johann Conrad von Mechel II and Anna Maria Christ.
Active 1769-1812 under their full names or as "Gebrüdern von Mechel" (picture to the right).
The Dance of Death in Basel
The 1796-edition. The scene is a copy of the 1715-1740 editions.
For close-up, click here.
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Among the material the Mechel-family via the Decker-family inherited from Henripetri,
were Frölich's books about Basel's dance of death.
Frölich's books were already confusing: The texts were from Basel's
and Bern's dances of death (along with a Latin translation of Basel's dance of death).
With a few exceptions however, the illustrations were neither from Basel nor Bern,
but were (bad) copies
of Holbein's dance of death.
In 1715 Mechel republished the material for the first time.
He dropped the Latin text and much of the Bern-text
and produced a new frontispiece (see picture to the left).
Unfortunately Mechel seems to have lost six of the Holbein copies
(duke,
abbess,
monk,
old woman,
sailor and
count),
but on the other hand he obtained a few woodcuts that actually represented Basel's dance of death,
viz.
the abbess,
the musician,
the Jew and
the heathen woman.
Mechel then gave his book the exact same title as Merians book:
»Der Todten-Tantz, wie derselbe in der weitberühmten Stadt Basel, als ein Spiegel menschlicher Beschaffenheit …«.
The book must have sold well for it was reprinted in 1724, 1735, 1740, 1769, 1786 and 1796.
The editions up to
1740
had a frontispiece featuring two Deaths dragging a young woman away. The version from
1769
does not have such an image, but the books from 1786 and later sport
a new version of the same image.
The book was re-issued several times in the 1800's.
With their Holbein-pictures the Mechel family thus cemented the confusion that Frölich had founded -
i.e. that Holbein should be the creator of Basel's dance of death.
One thing that Mechel didn't remove was Frölich's ending addressed to an imaginary satyr:
»Hiemit die Rhym des Todten-tantz, O Satyre, sich enden gantz«.
Therefore all editions from 1715 through 1870 ended with this text,
which was never a part of the dance of death.
In spite of Mechel's massive editing the book is still a mess:
As already mentioned most of the woodcuts are from Holbein's dance of death,
and they are discussed on the page about Holbein and Georg Scharffenberg.
The book includes the child, which neither Merian nor Büchel have.
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Frölich had
pulled the preacher out of the dance and placed him at the back of his book,
but Mechel instead places him in front,
like the preacher in Basel, where he
can quote the Isaiah and Daniel texts that introduced the mural.
In Basel the ossuary was adorned with a depiction of Judgment day.
(fragment of the original mural)
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Then comes a picture of Judgment Day. This scene does not appear in Basel, so therefore Mechel has retained the
text from Bern's dance of death. One might wonder why this scene has been placed here in the
beginning of the book, when it marks the end of both Holbein's and Bern's
dances and Frölich's book,
but this may be because Basel had a Judgment Day scene over the ossuary (picture to the right).
Then come the individual dancers, where the text is from Basel, while the pictures are the usual mix
of bad Holbein-copies and free fantasy.
Mechel had lost the copy of Holbein's nobleman,
so the duke and the duchess has to share the woodcut of
Holbein's noblewoman.
Therefore we get Death's speech to the duke (but not his answer),
and the duchess' reply to Death (but we're not told
what she's replying to).
Holbein's count has disappeared too, so Mechel illustrates him with
Holbein's knight instead.
Then he calls the knight "Nobleman" and illustrates him with Holbein's soldier,
and he moves the noblewoman (who is Holbein's duchess) forwards in the dance.
When Mechel comes to the real nobleman, he has run out of woodcuts,
and the nobleman is removed from the dance.
The juror is illustrated with a copy of Holbein's canon.
On the other hand, Basel's canon is illustrated with a copy of Holbein's priest.
The hermit is illustrated by Holbein's old man,
while the young man is the musician
from Holbein's nun, who has been placed out on the street (picture to the left).
This is a copy of Holbein's nun but the musician has been placed out on the street,
which means that the picture can be used for illustrating "the young man". There isn't a nun in Basel's dance of death anyway.
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Copy of Holbein. The gambler does not appear in neither Basel nor Bern.
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At the end of the dance come Adam & Eve and a text that is the introduction from Bern's dance of death:
»Von des Teuffels vergifften Zung, hat der Tod sein Ursprung […]«
and at the very end a picture of the Expulsion from Paradise with more of the introduction from Bern:
»Eva ist vast schuldig dran, Sie gab den Tod auch ihrem mann«.
Frölich had placed Adam & Eve in front of the book, but Mechel places them in the back,
like they were on the mural.
The result is confusing to say the least, both concerning contents and title.
Frölich's book was confusing too, but he may be somewhat excused since he tried to combine
three dances of death in one book, and at least he didn't leave out any dialogues.
In Mechel's book content is solely determined by the available woodcuts —
woodcuts that mostly doesn't even portray the dance in Basel.
Nobleman,
cripple, herald, executioner, painter's wife and Turk have disappeared simply because Mechel didn't a proper woodcut.
Duke and duchess each lost half a dialogue because
Mechel had lost the copy of Holbein's nobleman.
On the other hand, Mechel retained Holbein's Expulsion from Paradise,
drunkard, gambler and robber, who neither
belong to Basel nor Bern,
and where the text was presumably invented by Frölich.
The book was republished well into the 19th century
and the thousands of tourists who visited the church in Basel and bought the book,
must have gotten quite a surprise when they returned home and opened their new book.
One can't help wondering if the
von Mechel family were related to another contemporary publisher in Basel named von Mechel,
namely Christian von Mechel, who created confusion with his "genuine" Holbein-drawings.
Woodcuts added by the Mechel Family (1715)
The Pictures
Six of the woodcuts were lost somewhere between Frölich's 1588-edition
and the Mechel Family's editions.
Front page, 1740
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Front page, 1769
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Front page, 1796
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Front page, 1786
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Resources
- The 1724-edition of Mechel's book can be downloaded from The University of Heidelberg:
Der Todten-Tantz, Wie derselbe in der weitberühmten Stadt Basel, als ein Spiegel Menschlicher Beschaffenheit, gantz künstlich mit lebendigen Farben gemahlet, nicht ohne nutzliche Verwunderung zu sehen ist
- The 1740-edition of the widow Mechel's book can be downloaded from The University Library of Göttingen:
Der Todten-Tantz, wie derselbe in der Weitberühmten Stadt Basel, Als ein Spiegel Menschlicher Beschaffenheit, gantz künstlich mit lebendigen Farben gemahlet, nicht ohne nutzliche Verwunderung zu sehen ist
- The 1786-edition can be downloaded from The Internet Archive:
Der Todten-Tantz : wie derselbe in der weitberühmten Stadt Basel, als ein Spiegel menschlicher Beschaffenheit, gantz künstlich mit lebendigen Farben gemahlet, nicht ohne nutzliche Verwunderung zu sehen ist
(the same scans are available on WikiSource)
- The University of Düsseldorf has a 1796-edition:
Der Todten-Tantz, wie derselbe in der weitberühmten Stadt Basel [...]
- The 1796-edition is also available from e-rara:
Der Todten-Tantz, wie derselbe in der weitberühmten Stadt Basel, als ein Spiegel menschlicher Beschaffenheit, ganz künstlich mit lebendigen Farben gemahlet, nicht ohne nützliche Verwunderung zu sehen ist
- Google Books also has the 1796-edition:
Der Todten-Tanz: wie derselbe in der weitberühmten Stadt Basel [...]
- Be sure to check out: Frölich's woodcuts that are copies of Holbein's dance of death
- Be sure to also check out: Mechel in the 19th Century
Further Information
Dances of death
Basel
Mechel
