Did von Melle say that half the painting was missing?

The painting in Lübeck was replaced by a new one in 1701, and Jacob von Melle wrote down the old text.

Jacob von Melle is our only witness to the old painting, so we should weigh his words carefully. He starts by quoting 4 lines from Death's prologue:

Then von Melle goes on to say, »Here between, a large piece is missing and almost half the dialogue. Thereupon Death speaks to the canon […]«(1)

Jacob von Melle's epitaph.

Based on this, Heise postulates that half the painting was missing (because it had been sold to Tallinn). This conclusion is devoid of any logic.

1. Jakob von Melle had just quoted 4 lines from the beginning of the painting. The very piece of the painting that according to Heise should have been in Tallinn. This fact alone utterly explodes Heise's hypothesis.
2. The same thing is true for the end of the row: After the canon, von Melle quotes the text for Carthusian and burgomaster. Jakob von Melle had shuffled the sequence of dancers (see the page about Jacob von Melle and the notes here and here) - but regardless of the order it remains a fact that von Melle has described two persons who - according to Heise - should have been in Tallinn.
3. Jacob von Melle started his account by telling: »There used to be old Low Saxon rhymes below, which partly were rather obliterated and partly - because of the many restorations - were very mangled.«(2) If Jacob von Melle says the letters where obliterated and mangled, it follows logically → that there must have been a painting to observe.
4. Heise "forgets" that after the replacement, von Melle wrote: »The pictures now look exactly as they were designed earlier«.(3) He didn't write »Gee, it's good to have some art on the wall after having stared at a blank wall for 113 years!«.

So all in all, Jacob von Melle never said that half the painting was missing in 1701. Quite on the contrary.

Heise's next witness: Gotthard von Hansen

 

Has Gotthard von Hansen said that there used to be exactly 11 humans on the fragment in Tallinn?

In this section

• Introduction
• 🡺 Did Jacob von Melle say that half the painting was missing in Lübeck in 1701? 🡸
• Did Gotthard von Hansen say that there used to be exactly 11 humans on the fragment in Tallinn?
• What were Gotthard von Hansen's sources?
• Heise quotes Wilhelm Mantels
• Is the fragment in Tallinn missing the top?
• Heise ignores counter arguments
• The restoration of the fragment in Tallinn

Footnotes: (1) (2) (3)

Dansk Dances of death Lübeck Tallinn A fragment? Part 1