The two dances in Basel
The River Rhine divides Basel into Großbasel (top) and Kleinbasel. The arrows indicate the two dances of death.
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The purpose of this page is to show how similar the two dances in Basel were:
The totally unknown dance in the secluded nunnery in Kleinbasel, and
the widely famous and publicly accessible dance at the Predigerkirche in Großbasel.
The mural in Großbasel was more exposed to wind, weather and vandalism.
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Broadly speaking, the 39 participants are the same in both dances, i.e.
the 24 staple characters from the High German four-line dance of death
have been expanded with 15 new ones.
The figures in both dances often have the same postures and the same dialogues.
There are, of course, quite a few differences, and these are due to
the many renovations that the more exposed painting in Großbasel had to go through.
Here the Reformation plays a decisive role:
In Kleinbasel, the Reformation meant that the nuns were run out of town, and the mural was now more protected (and unknown) than ever.
In Großbasel, restorers had to reduce the number of Catholic clergy and in other ways prevent an iconoclasm
by zealous Protestants.
Let's compare the watercolors which
Emanuel Büchel executed in the latter half of the 18th century.
On the left is the dance in Kleinbasel,
which had probably not been changed since it was created in the first half of the 15th century.
On the right, the one in Großbasel, which had been continuously updated to
accommodate the changing tastes of the times.
Kleinbasel | Großbasel |
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Both dances start with two Deaths leaving an ossuary,
while playing the drum and flute.
Usually there is a preacher to introduce the dances, but this character is absent in Kleinbasel — maybe because the door didn't leave enough room?
In Großbasel, on the other hand, there is a preacher, in the person of the Reformer Johannes Ökolampadius.
This change must have happened when the painting was renovated in 1568,
and it probably protected the painting from being destroyed during the iconoclasm.
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The cardinal is moved and makes room for a queen.
Instead, the next dancer, the Catholic Patriarch, is transformed into a Cardinal, having the same posture as the Patriarch had.
There still exists a fragment with the queen, and under centuries of layers of paint you can see
the original cardinal,
which is very reminiscent of the cardinal in Kleinbasel.
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Another Catholic cleric is removed, namely the archbishop, who is replaced by a bishop
with the same posture.
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The bishop had moved up, where he had replaced the archbishop, this leaves room for a duchess.
Thus, both king and duke are duplicated, as are emperor / empress, nobleman / noblewoman,
young man / woman and Heathen man / woman.
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The only figure added on the west wall compared to the High German four-line dance of death,
was a juror ("Fürsprech").
But why should there be both a lawyer and a solicitor? In Großbasel he is replaced by a senator.
In both cases, Death pulls the hat off his victim.
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The third Catholic cleric to disappear is the beguine.
She is replaced by a hawker/peddler.
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The text shows that the previous two dancers were Turks,
but during a later renovation of the painting in Großbasel,
the Turkish Emperor Suleiman I was added at the end of the dance.
Therefore, there was no longer a need for Turks at this point in the dance, so the couple instead became pagans,
who invoke Jupiter and Venus.
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Towards the end, it becomes difficult to follow the changes.
Both dances had a child and the text was basically the same.
But at one point one of the restaurators,
probably Hans Hug Kluber, added himself as
the painter, while
the child and the mother were joined together and became
the painter's wife and son.
When Emanuel Büchel executed the watercolors on this page in the latter half of the 18th century,
the child, mother, painter's family, painter and Turk had disappeared,
while the Paradise was made wider and took up as much space
as two or three regular dancers.
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Further information
Dances of death
Basel
Two dances