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In 1794 Hollar's copperplates were published after a long hiatus. On that occasion Francis Douce wrote — anonymously — a preface with a historical overview of dances of death, as well as letter-press for each of the 30 scenes.
This essay (and the letter-press) was reprinted in the editions of 1804 and 1816. In 1825 it was appropriated by the editor of the false Bewick.
Later on, in 1833, Douce became famous as the author of "The Dance of Death Exhibited in elegant engravings […]", which can be read in many places on the Net, e.g. on Project Gutenberg, but this essay, which the young Douce wrote just under forty years earlier, is harder to find.
I don't follow Douce's line-breaks so I have marked his quotes with italics on lightblue background. I have also added some comments of my own using a paper background:
THE celebrity of a subject which has been distinguished by the labours of such artists as Holbein and Hollar, seems necessarily to demand some investigation of its origin*.
* It would be a piece of injustice not to mention, that this has already been done in a very able manner by a respected friend of the compiler of the present essay, in a little work, intitled "Emblems of Mortality," ornamented with copies in wood of the Dance of Death, by J. Bewick, the brother of the admirable artist who executed the cuts to a history of quadrupeds, lately
In the dark ages of monkish bigotry and superstition, the deluded people, terrified into a belief that the fear of death was acceptable to the great Author of their existence, had placed one of their principal gratifications in contemplating it amidst ideas the most horrid and disgusting: hence the frequent descriptions of mortality in all its shapes amongst their writers,
published. The work was printed for T. Hodgson, Clerkenwell, in 1789, 12mo. The editor of it will immediately perceive that no rivality is here intended ; that in the pursuit of a subject of this nature many of the same authorities must have naturally presented themselves, and, in order to connect it properly, must again be of course adopted. Independently of these, the rest of this slight performance is only designed as supplemental.
and the representations of this kind in their books of religious offices, and the paintings and sculptures of their ecclesiastic buildings. They had altogether lost sight of the consolatory doctrines of the Gospel, which regard death in no terrific point of view whatever ; a discovery reserved for the discernment of modern and enlightened Christians, who contemplate scenes which excited gloom and melancholy in the minds of their fore-fathers, with the gratification of philosophic curiosity. Some exceptions, however, to this remark are not wanting, for we may yet trace the imbecility of former ages in the decorations of many of our monuments, tricked out in all the silly ornaments of deaths heads and marrow-bones.
The most favourite subject of the kind however, was what is usually denominated the Dance of Death, or a representation of Death in the act of leading all ranks and conditions of men to the grave ; with gesticulations not a little bordering upon the grotesque, though probably without any view to provoke the mirth of the spectator in those times. One of the most antient still exiting, is that at Basil in Switzerland, in the church-yard formerly belonging to the Convent of Dominicans, which is said to have been painted at the instance of the fathers and prelates assisting at the grand council at Basil, in 1431, in memory of a plague which happened soon afterwards, and during its continuance. The name of the painter is
The dance of death in Basel was demolished in 1805, so it was still in existence when Douce wrote this essay,
unknown, and will probably ever remain so, for no dependence can be had upon the vague conjectures of those, who, without any authority, or even the smallest probability, have attempted to ascertain it. To refute, or even to mention the blunders which have been committed by most of the travellers who have described the town of Basil, when they discuss this subject, would fill a volume: it will be sufficient to notice an assertion of Keysler, that the painting was executed by Hans Bok, a celebrated painter of this place, who, however, from the testimony of Scheutzer, in his Itinerary, was not born till 1584. From some inscriptions on the spot it appears to have been retouched, or perhaps renewed,
Johann Georg Keyßler: »for several reasons the death's dance […] may be presumed not to be Holbein's but the work of another artist whose name was Bock;« (Travels through Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy and Lorrain, 1760, p. 170.)
Hans Bock was not the creator of the dance in Basel,
but he did draw a copy of the first two dance couples:
in 1566 and 1616 ; the first time probably by Hans Klauber, whose name occurs in the lines addressed by Death to the Painter.
It has been frequently supposed that the Basil painting was the first of the kind, but this is extremely doubtful, from the knowledge we have of many others of apparently equal antiquity. Many of the bridges in Germany and Switzerland were ornamented in this manner, a specimen of which is still to be seen at Lucerne ; and it is probable that almost every church of eminence was decorated with a Dance of Death. In the cloisters of St. Innocent's church at Paris, in those belonging to the old Cathedral of St. Paul at London, and in St. Mary's church
The dance was renovated in 1568 by Hans Klauber, who himself appears in the painting in the role of the painter.
The mural was restored again in 1614-1616 by Emanuel Bock, son of the Hans Bock who was wrongly named as the creator of the mural (see previous page).
In addition, the painting was restored in 1657/58 by Hans Georg Meyer, who perhaps left his mark on the young man's leg, and again in 1703 by Benedikt and Hans Georg Becker.
at Berlin, these paintings were to be seen. At Klingenthal, a convent in the Little Basil, are the remains of a Dance of Death, differently designed from that at the Dominicans, and thought to be more antient. The figures remaining till very lately in Hungerford's chapel, in the Cathedral at Salisbury, and known by the title of Death and the Young Man, were undoubtedly part of a Death's Dance, as might be further insisted on from the fragment of another compartment which was close to them. In the church at Hexham, in Northumberland, are the remains of a Death's Dance ; and at Fescamps, in Normandy, it is carved in stone, between the pillars of a church ; the figures are about eighteen inches high. Even fragments of painted glass,
It is surprising that Douce includes Berlin in the list of dances of death. The dance was covered with whitewash, and until it was discovered in 1865 — 71 years after Douce wrote the above — nobody knew that there was a dance of death on the wall.
More about the unknown mural in Berlin
Fescamps is presumably Fécamp, where there apparently once has been a dance of death. In 1833 in "The Dance of Death Exhibited", Douce mentions the work in the past tense: »On the pillars of the church at Fescamp, in Normandy, the Dance of Death was sculptured in stone«.
I do not agree with Douce that the two dances in Basel are "differently designed". This page attempts to show how similar they were: The two dances in Basel.
whereon this subject has been depicted, with old English verses over the figures, may contribute to shew how very common it has been in our own country. P. C. Hilscher, in a tract printed at Dresden, in 1705, has taken notice of other Dances of Death at Dresden, Annaberg, Leipzig, and Berne. Dr. Nugent has described one in St. Mary's church at Lubeck, which he states to have been painted in 1463.
The origin of all these is perhaps to be sought for in an antient pageant, or religious farce, invented by the clergy, for the purpose of at once amusing and keeping the people in ignorance. In this all ranks and conditions of life were personated and mixed together in
Read much more about Hilscher and the dance of death in Dresden.
Here is the text from the dance of death in Bern.
Thomas Nugent visited Lübeck and translated the dance of death into English. In Hamburg he described a donkey playing the bagpipes.
a general dance, in the course of which every one in his turn vanished from the scene, to shew that none were exempted from the stroke of death. This dance was performed in the churches, and can be traced back as far as the year 1424 ;* it was called the Dance of Macaber, from a German poet of that name, who first composed some verses under the same title. Of this person very little is known, but Fabricius thinks the poem more antient than the paintings.† His work has been translated into Latin and French, in the last of which languages there are some very antient and very modern editions.
* Glossar, Carpentier, Tom. II. 1103.
† Bibl. med. & infim. Ætat
Fabricius is Johann Albert Fabricius (1668-1736). I don't read Latin, so I haven't plowed through "Bibliotheca Latina mediae et infimae Aetatis" to find out why he thinks the poem to be more "antient" than the mural.
La Danse Macabre can be dated to 1424 and is therefore 66 years older than the Latin translation. Regarding this translation and "the German poet Macaber", see Chorea ab eximio Macabro.
The earliest allusion to the subject, but whether to the above-mentioned farce or to the paintings seems uncertain, is in the following lines, from the visions of Pierce the plowman, who wrote about 1350.
Death came drivynge after, and all to dust pashed
Kynges and kaysers, knightes and popes
Learned and lewde, he ne let no man stande
That he hitte even, he never stode after.
Many a lovely ladie, and lemmans of knights
Swonned and swelted, for sorow of deathes dyntes.
When the arts of printing and engraving became established, various copies of the Dance of Macaber made their appearance, particularly in the Hours, Breviaries, Missals, and other service books of the church, few of
which were unaccompanied with a Dance of Death ; and in these the designs sometimes varied. Many of our own service books for the use of Salisbury were thus decorated, and the fashion at length terminated in a book of Christian prayers, printed more than once during the reign of Elizabeth, since which time nothing of the kind has appeared. In all these are to be found the same dull and uniform representation of Death leading a single figure, without much attempt at character or execution, until at length there appeared, in 1538, a book, intitled "Les simulachres & historiees faces de la mort, autant elegamment pourtraictes, que artificiellement imaginees." It was printed at Lyons by Melchior and Gaspar Trechsel, and is accompanied
The French books of hours were full of decorations in the margins. In England this was particularly true for the book that Douce mentions: a book of Christian prayers.
What Douce totally misses is how these books of hours have inspired Holbein.
with forty-one of the most beautiful groupes of figures that can be well conceived, both for their composition and execution, being most delicately cut on wood, and surpassing in this branch of art almost every thing of the kind that has appeared before or since. This work was often republished, as well in the French, as in the Latin and Italian languages,* and has been usually deno-
* The following is presumed to be a tolerably correct list of the various editions of this book:
"Simulachres & historiees faces de la mort, &c." Lugd. 1538. 4to.
"Imagines de morte." Lugd. 1542. 12mo.
"Imagines mortis." Lugd. 1545. 12mo.
"Imagines mortis." Lugd. 1547. 12mo.
"Les images de la mort." Lyon 1547. 12mo.
"Simolachri, historie, e figure de la morte." Lyone
A review of the various editions of Holbein's woodcuts.
minated, by most of the writers upon the arts of painting and engraving, as well as by many travellers, Holbein's Dance of Death. It is
1549. 12mo. with an address from the printer, in which he complains of some attempts having been made in other countries to imitate the cuts to his book, and informs the reader, that he had caused many more cuts to be added to this edition than had appeared in any other ; a declaration not a little extraordinary, for both the editions of 1547, which were also published by this person, have the same number of cuts, and contain twelve more than the three first editions. These additional cuts were probably executed from the unfinished designs spoken of in the dedication to the first edition. Four of them, being groupes of children playing, are rather foreign to the subject, but are evidently done by the same artist who executed the others.
"Icones mortis," Basil, 1554. 12mo.
The Italian version from 1549 was produced after Vincenzo Valgrisi of Venice had issued an "unauthorized" version with copies of Holbein's woodcuts.
extremely clear, however, that Holbein did not invent these subjects, for it appears in a dedication, which is only to be found in the first edition of this work, that the Painter was then dead, and that he had not lived to finish some of the designs, which, however, afterwards appeared in a subsequent edition. The Painter must therefore have died before 1538, and it is well known that Holbein was at
"Les images de la mort, auxquelles sont adjoustees dix sept figures." Lyon, 1562. 12mo. There are but five additional figures to this edition, the other twelve being what had already appeared, making in the whole seventeen more than in the first edition. Of these five cuts, which have all the delicacy of the others, three are groupes of boys.
"De doot vermaskert, &c." Antwerp, 1654. 12mo.
Douce believes that De doodt vermaskert contains genuine Holbein woodcuts.
It doesn't.
this time living, and continued so until 1555. Unluckily no evidence whatever, nor even tradition, has been preserved relating to this great artist, and it is to be feared that he will ever remain undiscovered.
After what has been said it becomes necessary to attempt at least to give some reason for the almost universal opinion, that these designs were the offspring of Holbein's pencil. Most of those writers who have described the town of Basil, as well as the compilers of the lives of the Painters, speak of a Dance of Death by Holbein, some referring to the old Dance of Macaber, and others to the more modern one ; but it is not difficult to see that they have but transcribed from
Today it is believed that Holbein died as early as 1543, but this does not change Douce's argument.
each other, without taking any pains to examine the subject. Certain it is, however, that Holbein did paint a Death's Dance in its improved state, and likewise more than once. Bishop Burnet, in his travels in Switzerland, speaks of a Dance of Death, painted by Holbein, on the walls of a house where he used to drink," which was then so worn out that very little was to be seen except shapes and postures. He then mentions the old Death's Dance at the Dominicans convent*, which he says was "so worn out some time ago, that they ordered the best painter they had to lay new colours on it; but this is so ill done, that one had rather see the dead
* By mistake called the Convent of the Augustinians.
This is a misquote. Gilbert Burnet mentions a dance on a wall, but doesn't specify the type of dance: »There is also a Dance that he painted on the VValls of an House where he used to drink, […]« (page 265).
"shadows of Holbein's pencil, (i. e. on the walls of the house,) than this coarse work."
This account is corroborated by Keysler, who adds, that the painting on the house was then entirely obliterated. Patin, in his travels, also speaks of a house at Basil, curiously painted by Holbein, but does not mention the subject; it was probably the same as Burnet saw. These are the only travellers who have spoken upon this subject with any degree of accuracy, and fortunately their testimony throws much light upon it.
To the book already mentioned to have been published by the Trechsels, at Lyons, they sometimes annexed another, which was
Burnet says that Basel's famous dance of death is so clumsily painted over that one would rather have seen »the dead shadows of Holbein's pencil« ("pencil" means a thin brush).
Douce assumes the "dead shadows" are an allusion to the dance at the previous house, but as Rumohr points out, this doesn't make sense, since this painting was not overpainted. On the contrary, Burnet has just informed us that it was »so worn out that very little was to be seen except shapes and postures«.
Rumohr instead understands Burnet's words as Burnet believing the famed Dance of Death to be painted by Holbein (which is a widespread misconception), and that he would rather have seen the sad remains of Holbein's brush than the coarse overpaint.
in some degree connected with it, and appears to have been printed by them the following year. This was entitled, "Historiarum veteris testamenti icones," the cuts of which are in some instances much inferior to the others, and apparently by a different artist. The designs of these are indisputably by Holbein, as appears from some verses before the book, composed by Nicolas Bourbon, a cotemporary poet, who also wrote some lines upon a Dance of Death, painted by Holbein*. To these cuts to the Bible, are prefixed the first four which occur in the Dance of Death, as they likewise belong to the subject, and represent the creation and fall of man; but they are
*Borbonii Nugarum libri octo. Basil 1540. 12mo. p. 445.
different in size, and were added, not only from the analogy of the subjects, but from the circumstance of their being already in the hands of the printer; and thus, from an odd coincidence of things, as well as a palpable confusion of the respective verses of Bourbon, seems to have originated an opinion that Holbein invented the Dance of Death.
But it has not only been asserted that Holbein designed, but that he engraved, or rather cut this Dance of Death on wood. That he practised this art, nay that he excelled in it, there is reason to believe, from some specimens that have been preserved, and which bear on them the unequivocal marks
of H. H. & HANS. HOLBEN*. A
set of cuts with the latter mark occurs
in Archbishop Cranmer's Catechism, printed
by Walter Lyne in 1548; and
although the composition of these is extremely
good, their execution is not only
inferior to the Dance of Death, but
entirely different in its manner: and the
mark of 
which is to be seen upon
one of the cuts in this latter work, has
been ascribed without any authority to Holbein,
upon the strength of the vague opinions
* It is not however impossible that Holbein, in putting his mark upon these cuts, might only intend to shew that he designed them, or drew the subject upon the blocks.
Here I assume (along with Rumohr page 134, left column), that
is a mistake.
In »this latter work« — i.e. the dance of death — there is carved
on
the duchess' bedpost.
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concerning his interference with the Dance of Death*.
The great popularity and success of these cuts very soon excited many imitations of them both in copper and on blocks. In 1541 Aldegrever engraved eight of them, but with very material alterations. Other editions of the Imagines Morris, which had been first published under that title in 1545, appeared in 1555, 1566, 1573, and probably at many other times; these were also
* This mark is also given by Professor Christ, in his Dictionnaire des Monogrammes to Hans Lautensack, and Hans Lederer, persons of whom absolutely nothing is known.
Heinrich Aldegrever was the first person to copy Holbein's woodcuts.
The editions from 1555, 1566, 1573 are copies published in Cologne by the heirs of Arnold Birckmann. In addition to the Latin "Imagines Mortis" there were also High and Low German editions.
accompanied with cuts in wood by a very
eminent but unknown artist, whose mark
is 
. This mark is also to be found
in some of the emblems of Sambucus and
Lejeune, in some initial letters to
Grafton's Chronicle, and in other cuts
executed during the sixteenth century*. It
*The inaccurate Papillon, who in matters of historical discussion is hardly ever to be trusted, has asserted in his "Traitè de la gravure en bois," that this is the mark of Silvius Antonianus, or Antoniano. Having found it upon some cuts, in an edition of Faerno's fables, printed at Antwerp in 1567, with a dedication to Cardinal Borromeo, by Silvius Antoniano, he instantly conceived that he had discovered the name of the artist in that of the author of the dedication. The fact is that Antoniano was no engraver, but a professor of belles lettres at Rome, afterwards secretary to Pope Pius V. and at length a Cardinal. His
Douce calls the unknown creator of the copies from Cologne »a very eminent but unknown artist«.
Later, in 1833, Douce had a more reserved opinion of this "eminent artist":
although not devoid of merit, they are not only very inferior to the fine originals, […] there are several variations, always for the worse […] of which a tasteless example is found […]
("The Dance of Death Exhibited, pp. 113-114)
is not a little remarkable, that so late as the year 1654 there appeared a Dutch book, printed at Antwerp, where this artist
dedication had already appeared in the first edition of these fables in 1564, which has a different set of cuts engraved on copper. Another of Papillon's blunders it equally curious. He had seen an edition of the emblems of Sambucus with cuts, on which the same mark occurs. In this book is a fine portrait of the author, with his dog, under whom is the word BOMBO, which Papillon gravely informs us is the name of the engraver, and again refers to it on another cut of one of the emblems under a dog also. Had he read the verses belonging to this particular emblem, he would have immediately seen that it was nothing more than the dog's name, as Sambucus himself declares, whilst he pays a laudable tribute to the attachment of the faithful companion of his travels.
worked, entitled, "Doodt vermaskert, or Death masked," accompanied with eighteen cuts of the Dance of Death, which in the title page are ascribed to Holbein. They are all, except three, impressions from the identical blocks of the beautiful and original cuts of this subject; but the above-mentioned artist has had the effrontery to put his mark, together with the figure of a graving tool or knife, upon several of them. It is however possible that he might have repaired them, as some of the smaller lines, which in former impressions seem to have been injured, are here much stronger.
It might be tedious to describe all the imitations of the Dance of Death which have
Douce believes that De doodt vermaskert contains genuine Holbein woodcuts.
It doesn't.
When Douce writes "the above-mentioned
artist", he alludes to the artist in Cologne from page 21-22 who decorated some of his woodcuts
with a big .
There is a similar letter on some of
the woodcuts in De Doodt vermaskert, which Douce believes are Holbein's original woodcuts.
I do not know how Douce had imagined that a woodcarver active in Cologne in 1555, could appear 100 years later in Antwerp in 1654. And how do you even go about adding details to a woodcut?
appeared at different times, as they are exceedingly numerous ; but it would be unpardonable not to notice an alphabet of initial letters with this subject, which for humour and excellence of design, are even superior to the celebrated one ; and with respect to execution, especially when their minuteness is considered, being less than an inch square, absolutely wonderful. Their composition is entirely different from that of any of the others, and one of them is extremely indecent. They appear to have been done at Basil; for in the public library there is preserved a sheet, whereon are printed three alphabets, viz. the one above mentioned, another of boys at play, and the third a dance of peasants, &c. The designs of some of
It is almost 100% certain that Douce has this information about the library in Basel from Christian von Mechel — either from a personal meeting in London (described by Douce in "The Dance of Death Exhibited" pages 133-134) or from a letter from Mechel to Gottlieb von Murr, which is printed in German in Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, vol. 16, page 11 and in French by Brulliot in Dictionnaire de monogrammes, columns 418-419.
Some of this information is incorrect. For example, that the three alphabets should be printed on one and the same sheet.
Rumohr blames "the unreliable Mechel" (»aus dem wenig zuverlässigen Chr. v. Mecheln«) and asks his readers if anyone with access to the Basel library would please verify, whether such a sheet exists (Kunst-Blatt, 1823, Nos. 31-34).
Peter Vischer followed the call the same summer (Kunst-Blatt No. 59). He found no single sheet with three alphabets, but one sheet with all 24 letters of Holbein's alphabet, where at the bottom it said: "HAnns Lützelburger / formschnider/ genant Franck".
the last are the same as those in a similar
Dance by Holbein, formerly painted on a
house at Basil, and of which some drawings
are still preserved; and it is therefore not
improbable that he also designed the Dance of
Death for these initials. They have
apparently been struck off as proofs or patterns for
some bookseller*, and at the bottom of the
sheet is the mark with the words "Hans
Lützelburger Formschneider, (i. e. block-cutter,)
in Basel." In this manner has
* They were actually used by Cratander, a printer at Basil; and other initial letters, with Dances of Death, are to be seen in books printed at Zurich, Strasburg, and Vienna, in the sixteenth century. All the alphabets are in the possession of the compiler of this essay, but they have not the monogram.
This is decidedly wrong. It does not say "HL" at the bottom of the sheet dance of death alphabet, but only "H":
.
As mentioned before, "HL" is carved into the duchess' bedpost in the great dance of death.
been preserved the name of a most exquisite artist, whom, from the similarity of stile and subject, there is every reason to suppose the person who executed the fine cuts of the first Dance of Death. As he worked after the designs of Holbein, it is also probable that the painter might have invented some of the seventeen subjects which appeared in continuation of the original work, and that Lützelburger also cut them for the subsequent editions. From the extreme delicacy with which the initials with the Dance of Death are executed, there is reason to suppose that they were not cut upon blocks of wood, but of metal, as was probably the larger work of the same subject; and in support of this conjecture it may be observed, that blocks of this
Douce suggest that Lützelburger might also have cut the 17 scenes that were added in later editions, but this is impossible, since Lützelburger died in 1526 — 12 years before the first edition of Simulachres.
It is also easy to see that these 17 scenes were cut by different artists. Compare for instance the fool with the putto.
kind are still preserved in the cabinets of the curious.
In 1780 Chretien de Mechel, a well-known artist and printseller at Basil, published forty-five engravings of a Death's Dance, as part of the works of Holbein, of which he intends to give a series. Mr. Coxe, in his travels, has given some account of this work, and informs us that they are done after some small drawings by Holbein, sketched with a pen, and slightly shaded with Indian ink ; that these drawings were purchased by Mr. Flei[s]chman, of Strasburg, at Crozat's sale at Paris, and are now in the collection of Prince Gallitzin, Minister from the Empress of Russia to the court of Vienna, at which
last place he had frequent opportunities of seeing and admiring them. He further adds that Hollar copied these drawings, an opinion which will admit of some doubt. Mons. De Mechel's remark, that from the dresses and character of several of the figures, it is probable the drawings were sketched in England, as well as Mr. Coxe's conjecture that they were in the Arundelian collection, will appear but slightly founded to any one conversant in the dresses of the French and German nations at that period, to which they bear at least an equal resemblance: again, one of the cuts represents a King sitting at table under a canopy, powdered with Fleurs de lis, whose figure has a remarkable affinity to the portraits of Francis I. If these drawings were copied
Read more about Chretien de Mechel / Christian von Mechel.
It has since emerged that the "original Holbein drawings" were created by a very young Peter Paul Rubens.
from the celebrated wooden cuts, they must have been done after the year 1547, as eight of them did not appear till that time.
But it has entirely escaped the knowledge of all the biographers of Holbein that he painted a Dance of Death in fresco, upon the walls of the Palace at Whitehall, which was consumed by fire in 1697. This curious fact is ascertained from two sets of nineteen very indifferent etchings from the wooden cuts, by one Nieuhoff ; they were never published, but copies of them presented to the artist's friends, with manuscript dedications in the Dutch language, in which he speaks of the above-mentioned paintings at Whitehall. The book has the following
This is where Douce mounts his hobby-horse: Namely that Holbein had painted a dance of death on the walls of the palace in Whitehall. Douce's thought is probably that Holbein's fame was due to such a painting (or the painted house in Basel mentioned on pages 16-17) and not the 41 woodcuts, which Douce refuses to attribute to Holbein.
As proof, Douce now quotes from a small book with bad copies of the dance of death (»very indifferent etchings«). He evidently believes that the author's dedications bear witness to the presence of such a mural.
Read more about Nieuhoff Piccard and "The Dead Dance".
title engraved in a border, "Imagines mortis, or the Dead Dance of Hans Holbeyn, Painter of King Henry the VIIIth." The author, in one of these dedications, addressed to the Right Honourable William Benting, informs him, that "he had met with the scarce little work of H. Holbeyn in wood, which he had himself painted as large as life in fresco, on the walls of Whitehall ; that he had followed the original as nearly as possible, and had presumed to lay his copy before him as being born in the same palace ; that he considered the partiality which every one has for the place of his nativity, and that therefore any account of what was curious and remarkable therein, and of what was then no more, as being destroyed by a fatal fire, must
"of course prove acceptable, particularly as there were hardly any more remains of the palace left than his own dwelling." He then states, that the design of the painter resembled that of the founder of the Greek monarchy, who ordered these words to be written, to remind him of his mortality, "Remember, Philip, that thou art a man," and proceeds to describe in a very quaint manner the different subjects of his work. The dedication to the other copy is nearly in similar words, and addressed to Mynheer Heymans, who appears in consideration of his singular merits to have had a dwelling assigned him in the Palace at Whitehall. From the handwriting and Dutch names in this work, it is evidently of the time of William III. but
of the artist no memorial is preserved ; however, the importance of the fact which he has recorded, will render him a valuable personage in the opinion of the lovers of the arts.
After what has been said then, it is to be hoped that no additional evidence will be requisite to shew that Holbein did not invent the subjects, nor execute the cuts belonging to the Dance of Death which is usually ascribed to him ; that he painted it however, and most assuredly more than once, seems to be beyond the possibility of doubt.
It only remains to give some account of the prints which are the immediate object of
Douce spends a lot of ink on this booklet, but it is in vain. The artist does not write anywhere, that he has as much as seen a dance of death in the castle, and he makes it crystal clear that he has copied some woodcuts, which he unreservedly attributes to Holbein.
Read more about Nieuhoff Piccard and "The Dead Dance".
this publication, and to which it is hoped the
preceding introduction will not have appeared
uninteresting. It has been commonly
supposed that Hollar copied these prints from
the original cuts, but Mr. Coxe* thinks he
followed the drawings engraved by De Mechel,
which he imagines to have been in the Arundelian
collection. Both these opinions seem
erroneous ; for many of Hollar's prints are
materially different, as well from the cuts,
as the drawings ; and are, with two or
three exceptions, very close copies of the
cuts already mentioned to have been first
published in 1555, with the mark of .†
Now we approach what should be the main subject: Hollar's prints. I agree with Douce that Hollar has mainly based his work on the editions from Cologne (the heirs of Arnold Birckmann) rather than Holbein's original woodcuts.
* Travels in Swisserland.
† It is not a little remarkable that almost the same variations from the original cuts, are to be found in
He must therefore have either had before him both the sets of wooden cuts, or have copied the paintings at Whitehall ; for his acknowledged fidelity would have hardly suffered him to depart from his originals, whatever they were, and as they now remain, they are not correct copies of any single existing model.
Hollar's prints were first published in 1651*, with borders designed by Abraham à
those of the edition of 1555, in De Mechel's prints, and in Hollar's etchings ; a circumstance which renders it probable that these last were all copied from the same originals, which might have been the work of Holbein, to whom the variations may be likewise attributed.
* In 1682 there appeared engraved copies of the Dance of Death, in a work entitled "Theatrum
Diepenbeke, and afterwards without the borders.
In this latter impression the letters
. i. occur upon every print, and are
intended for " Holbein invenit," as appears
from some other of Hollar's prints, which
have upon them these words at length. No
panegyric is here wanting upon the works of
this admirable artist; they are sufficiently
known and esteemed by every collector of
taste, and particularly his Dance of Death.
The plates, which appear to have been but
little used, have been till lately preserved in a
noble family, and impressions from them are
"mortis humanæ," by J. Weichard. These engravings are within borders of fruit, flowers, and animals, which are executed with an uncommon degree of elegance.
One wishes Douce would provide a little more detail: »The plates, […] have been till lately preserved in a noble family«. Richard Pennington ("A Descriptive Catalogue p. 30") remarks wryly: »as though it were a recipe for Worcestershire sauce«.
Where were the 30 copper plates hidden for more than 100 years? Douce writes at length about painted houses in Basel and a supposed painting at Whitehall, but when it comes to the central subject, he is silent.
It is less than clear to me why Douce mentions Johann Weichard Valvasor in the footnote. Perhaps it is because Weichard also copies the editions from Cologne instead of Holbein's original woodcut, or perhaps because the first editions of Hollar's prints had frames?
Weichard's frames are indeed filled with detailed drawings of flowers, birds, insects and fruits, and they are all different, whereas Hollar only employed three.
once more presented to the public, without the least alteration.
Vertue, in his description of Hollar's works, mentions that he engraved a reverse of the first print, an additional one without a border, representing the rich man disregarding the prayers of the poor, and three others from the set after Holbein, with four Latin verses at bottom. He also engraved the six first letters of the alphabet, adorned with small figures of a Death's Dance, and one large plate of the same subject for Dugdale's St. Paul's, and the Monasticon ; but this last plate is only a copy from an old wooden cut prefixed to Lydgate's Dance of Macaber, at the end of his fall of princes, printed by
Hollar produced 4 more scenes that were closer copies of Holbein, viz the pope, the senator, the peasant and the robber.
He produced the letters A-F of a dance of death-alphabet, and for Dugdale's Monasticon, he produced Hollar's original, where Death fetches the whole society.
Even though Douce (and everyone else) is silent, it is obvious that the version of Hollar's procession that is at included in all editions between 1790 and 1816., is not Hollar's original. Among the obvious differences are the absence of the large cartouche and the absence of shading of the landscape and people.
Tottell in 1554, and was not intended to represent the Dance of Death at St. Paul's, as Mr. Warton has supposed*, but only as an emblematical frontispiece to the verses.
* Observ. on Spenser, Vol. II. 117.
As Douce points out, Hollar's procession is a copy of the simple woodcut, that Tottel had printed in 1554.
Douce does not believe that this image was meant to depict a dance of death, but what makes him think so? Tottel used this very image to illustrate "The Daunce of Machabree", which had once been painted at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and Dugdale used Hollar's updated image in his book on St. Paul's Cathedral for a reprint of the same "Daunce".
John Bewick created a similar frontispiece as an illustration of »death seizing all ranks and degrees of people«, and so did his imitators: Anderson. the false Bewick and the false false Bewick.
After all, this is what Douce himself wrote at the beginning of this essay (page 4): "The most favourite subject of the kind however, was what is usually denominated the Dance of Death, or a representation of Death in the act of leading all ranks and conditions of men to the grave".
Douce alludes to the preface that accompanied the publication of John Bewick's copies in 1789.
This essay was as anonymous as Douce's, but was written by John Sidney Hawkins, esq.