Bleibach, The cook

The cook

Death to the cook
Zuem Koch. Den feissten Koch ich nit vergiss, den bratten hab ich schon am spiss, ein Krüglein Wein thue nit vergessen. komb hülf mir den bratten essen.	To the Cook. I won't forget the fat cook. I've already got the roast on the spit. I won't forget a little mug of wine. Come on, help me eat the roast.
The cook
Antwort. Den Braten und das Krüglein Wein, Laß mich nur — soll dein eigen sein. Ich binn sehr feist und kann nicht tantzen, Sonst fall ich wirklich auf den Ranzen.	Answer. The roast and the mug of wine, - just leave me - shall be yours. I am very fat and cannot dance, Otherwise I really shall fall on my fat belly.(1)

Basel, the fat cook

Holbein, The abbot

We also know the cook, who is too fat to keep up with Death, from Basel, where Death says: »Wie bist so feist, du kanst kaum gohn« ("How fat you are, you can hardly walk").

The picture is also a close copy, with Death carrying the spit like a gun, and the cook spilling his jug of wine on the ground.

The scene also closely resembles Holbein's abbot (on the right). The question is who copied whom. Holbein produced his woodcuts around 1526, but the dance on the wall in Basel was renovated by Hans Kluber in 1568.

Did Hans Kluber then draw inspiration from Holbein's woodcut when he renovated the mural? Or was there already a similar image on the mural that Holbein copied?

Footnotes: (1)

Ranzen. . .: normally means a knapsack, but in casual talk it can also mean a voluminous belly.