Heinrich Kruspe (1821-1893)

Kruspe: Student

Kruspe: Actress

On March 7^th, 1872, the orphanage in Erfurt burned down, and at the same time the dance of death in Erfurt — 56 life-size oil paintings — were destroyed. But as soon as April of the same year, the draughtsman Kruspe could reassure the readers of Illustrirten Zeitung that about 27 years ago he had made pen drawings of the 40 most important paintings.

Fortunately 40 drawings would precisely fit into two pages with 5 × 4 scenes on each, so these 40 drawings were reproduced by the staff artists and printed on two pages as line-drawings: "Nach Federzeichnungen von H. Kruspe".

The 40 scenes were brought in a sequence that makes no sense whatsoever.

Apparently nobody knew about Götz' watercolours at that time, so at the bottom of both pages were written: "Einzig bekannte Copie der […] Originale".

Kruspe: Miller

Kruspe: Pope

30 years later, in 1902, Karl Julius Schröer wrote a longer article about the dance of death. Schröer in particular used a booklet by Ludwig Schellenberg titled "Denksprüche und Beschreibung der Gemäldegallerie des sogenannten Todtentanzes im evangelischen Waisenhause zu Erfurt" Folgendes". This book does not seem to exist anymore, but fortunately Schröer has quoted copiously from it.

Along with the article Schröer published Kruspe's drawings. Evidently the printing technique had made great progress during the 30 intervening years, for this time it wasn't manual copies of Kruspe, "Nach Federzeichnungen von H. Kruspe", but in fact a photographic reproduction: »auf 5 Tafeln gebrachten 45 Bildnisse der photographischen Aufnahme von Kruspes Handzeichnungen«.

As it turned out, Kruspe hadn't just made 40 drawings, but 46. Fortuitously the 46^th picture, the judge, was both "unfinished" and "hardly recognizable", so therefore Schröer could bring the other 45 on five page with 3 × 3 drawings on each.

The drawings don't look like line-drawings, but this may be due to the reproduction technique of that time. Regrettably the drawings are a bit cropped.

In the bottom left corner of each drawing is a number. This number corresponds to the number in Schöer's text (which was based on Schellenberg's book). There are probably no numbers on the drawings themselves.

Kruspe: Death

Goetz: Death

Much later it was discovered that the paintings had also been copied by Götz in 1834, ca. 10 years before Kruspe had made his drawings. All 56 paintings in the series are copied in colour and with the text.

These two copies are often at odds with each other, and if one compares Kruspe's drawings with Götz' watercolours, it turns out that it is usually Kruspe who has most details.

Take the first picture: Death is surrounded by symbols of worldly power, honour and knowledge, but Kruspe has far more objects: The crowns of king, emperor and pope (Götz only shows one crown), a bishop's miter, helmet, money sack, book and globe (on the other hand, Götz has a lute and a sheet with musical notes). In the background to the left, Kruspe shows a temple, and to the right there are two reliefs showing the Fall of Man and Judgment Day, where Götz only has a curtain.

Obviously it is hard to determine, which of the two is most correct, since the originals perished in 1872. Nevertheless it must be said that Kruspe often has the most interesting version, while Götz has the prettiest version.

External links

Further Information

Drawings by Heinrich Kruspe (40 + 5)

Death

Actress

Dancer

Singer

Gypsy woman

Cook

Astronomer

Typefounder

Quack

Cooper

Miller

Potter

Wax trader

Wedding inviter

Children

Mountain man

Mayor

Queen

The empress

Pope

Field watch

Civil servant

Painter

Lawyer

Merchant

Colonel

Soldier

General

Innkeeper

Apothecary

Physician

Count and countess

Young woman

Young man

Priest

Canon

Cardinal

Hunter

Student

Orphanage

Elector

King

Adam and Eve

Christ

Old woman