The restoration

Summary: Part 7 of 7 about why the painting in Tallinn is not a remnant of Lübeck's original painting from 1463.

The painting in Tallinn was restored between 1962-1964. In the process, the rest of Heise's claims were disproved:

• Heise had claimed that Lübeck's painting had been so irreparable that half the painting had been cut out and sold to Tallinn.

  During the restoration it turned up that the fragment in Tallinn hadn't been in so bad a condition that it would justify a paint-over - let alone being cut out. The paint-over was from the 19^th century.

  Tallinn's dance of death before the restoration.
  The top of the canvas is intact.

• Back in 1701, Jakob von Melle had quoted 4 lines from Lübeck - 4 lines that according to Heise's hypothesis should be located in Tallinn.

  The restoration showed that there are no vertical seams (until the king) - in other words: If those 4 lines were in Lübeck in 1701, the rest of the painting would also have been there.

• The painting in Lübeck had been cut out - with pieces of canvas remaining in the top of the old frame in Lübeck. Heise postulated that the fragment in Tallinn was lower because the top had been cut off.

  The restoration showed that the top of the fragment is intact (see picture to the right) - so the fact that there were pieces of canvas remaining in Lübeck actually proves that we are dealing with two different paintings.

• The languages in the 2 paintings are not the same. In Lübeck's painting there are Middle Dutch words (naer, klusenaer etc.) and French loan words (Conciencien, Temptacie) - whereas the text in Tallinn is pure Low German.

  Heise had tried to explain this away by claiming that the burghers of Tallinn had changed the text by painting it over - because they did not understand the "foreign" words. During the restoration the fragment was examined with X-rays and the unoriginal layers of paint and varnish were removed. These process showed that the text had never been altered.

Summary: It took time to disprove all of Heise's wild claims. But disproved they were.

Further information

• Restoring the fragment in Tallinn
• Photos of the painting in Lübeck.
• Photos of the painting in Tallinn.
• Anton Wortmann - who copied the painting in 1701.
• Jacob von Melle - who wrote down the text (in wrong order).
• Marienkirche and the story of the painting.

Dansk Dances of death Lübeck Tallinn A fragment Part 7