he woodcuts must have been produced in Basel between 1522 (when Lützelburger come to Basel)
and before 1526 - the year Lützelburger died.
The dance of death alphabet was used in books as early as August 1524,
but for unknown reasons — presumably because of the religious and social criticism — twelve years
passed before Holbein's great dance of death was published in book form.
The creation
The temptation
The expulsion
After the Fall
Bones of all men
The pope
The emperor
The king
The cardinal
The empress
The queen
The bishop
the duke
The abbot
The abbess
The nobleman
The canon
The judge
The advocate
The senator
The preacher
The priest
The monk
The nun
The old woman
The physician
The astrologer
The rich man
The merchant
The seaman
The knight
The count
The old man
The countess
The noblewoman
The duchess
The peddler
The peasant
The child
The Last Judgment
The escutcheon of Death
Soldier
Waggoner
Gamesters
Robber
Blind man
Beggar
Drunkard
Fool
Bride
Groom
Children
There still exists a number of printer's proofs with German titles such as Vsstribung Ade Eue and Der Rych man. Most of these proofs only consist of 40 woodcuts with the astrologer missing. The reason is probably the simple fact that 40 is a nice round number, which is easy to distribute on 4 printed pages.
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| Is the cardinal in the proces of selling indulgences? Or has he just received his promotional papers? |
ot until 1538 were the 41 woodcuts (with the astrologer) published by Melchior Trechsel in Lyon
with the title »Les Simulachres & Historiées Faces de la Mort avtant elegamtment pourtraictes, que artificiellement imaginées«.
Gone were the German titles over each woodcut —
instead every picture was furnished with a bible quote at the top and a four-lined poem by Gilles Corozet below.
In about half the cases, the Bible quote was the same that was used in
Holbein's dance of death alphabet.
Thus the pictures and the text don't form a unit since the text was added far later, when Lützelburger had been dead for 12 years and Holbein was living in London. Strictly speaking it isn't even a dance of death, but an emblem book. An emblem was a popular genre, consisting of 3 elements: At the top a motto or bible quote, then an allegorical picture and then a didactic poem.
In contrast to the earlier monumental dances of death — like those in Lübeck, Berlin, Tallinn, Paris and London — there's is no preacher with introducing and concluding sermons. The preacher is just another member in the series. The German titles are gone, and the 4-lined verses are just a general moral that doesn't have much bearing on the picture. Therefore it's often hard to guess, what goes on in the pictures. Is it a rich man or a miser? Is it a noblewoman or a newly married couple? Is it a countess or a bride?
Worst of all, there's no dialogue between Death and the dying. One has to make up ones own story. Is the cardinal selling indulgences? Or has he just received his promotion? Is the bishop a bad shepherd? Or does the sheep and the congregation start running astray because Death takes the "shepherd" away? What is it Death has in his hand behind the preacher? Is Death helping the peasant plowing the field? Or is he about to run the horses (and the peasant) to death? What's the story behind the young man?
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| The pope performing an unchristian act while being surrounded by corpses and devils with letters of indulgence. |
he book was banned by the French general inquisitor Vidal de Bécanis,
and one understands why — considering the ecclesiastical and social criticism.
Those were uneasy times, with fights between Protestants and Catholics,
and people still remembered the peasants' rebellion of the 1520'ies.
The Pope — in a most unchristian way — lets the emperor kiss his feet, surrounded by corpses and devils. The cardinal and bishop are highly ambiguous, but as mentioned they can be explained away. A publisher could always defend himself by saying the pictures depicted a single corrupt cardinal or a single incompetent bishop. But there's only one single infallible pope, so in this case the address is distinct — and it's hard to explain away, why the devils are flying and crawling at the Pope's court. Most of the copyists (see the list below) has chosen to remove the devils from the pope — if not at first, then in later editions.
Other ecclesiasticals being ridiculed are the well-nourished abbot and the abbess, who have sworn to forsake the temptations of this world but still are protesting wildly and fighting screamingly. Death does not come conveniently for them. The monk clutches his charity box and its contents. The canon is a fool, who only thinks of his hunting falcon and can't find his way into church. The nun, who is married to Jesus, is enamoured by a young troubadour sitting in her bed.
The lay world isn't spared either. The emperor is about to pass judgment on a poor man, when Death breaks his sword. The judge ignoreres the poor man in favour of the rich man, who has his hands in his money bag. The lawyer receives cold cash on the street. The senator ignores the poor man, while a devil uses a pair of bellows to blow evil into his ears. The count prays for his life, while Death is dressed as a peasant — a reminder of the peasants' rebellion. The duke turns away from the poor in disgust, and fails to notice Death.
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| On Vogtherr's woodcut the text is legible. |
n spite of the ban, the book was re-printed in many editions.
In the 1542-edition, Corozet's verses were translated from French to Latin
by Georg Aemilius.(1)
In 1545, the picture of a beggar was inserted in another section of the volume.(2)
In 1547,(3)
the beggar became a part of the dance of death, and the series was expanded by
soldier,
waggoner,
gambler,
robber,
blind man,
drunkard,
fool and four pictures of children.
After several editions, the series was expanded in 1562 with
young woman,
young man and
more boys.
At that time both Lützelburger
and Holbein were dead(4),
and the new woodcuts show it: In some of them, like
soldier and waggoner,
one can sense the hand of Lützelburger, but generally the quality is lower and varying.
Holbein's woodcuts have been incredibly popular even since — and have been re-interpreted and copied by many artists. Here are some of the editions:
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| Birckmann's copies has inspired Valvasor, Hollar and Deuchar. |
(1) Georg Aemilius . . .: 1517-1569, (also called Oemmel, Aemylius, Emilius, Öhmler and Oemler). Several authors claim that Georg Aemilius was Martin Luther's brother-in-law, but this is incorrect. It was Georgs father, Nicolas Oemeler, whom Luther called his boyhood friend and brother-in-law — and brother-in-law should be understood in a very broad sense, since Nicolas Oemeler and Luther's brother Jakob had married two sisters.
(2) another section . . .: All the books mentioned are collections. Even when the art of book printing was in its infancy, 41 pictures was too little to fill an entire volume, and therefore Holbein's woodcuts were bundled with various didactic writings. The mixture varied from edition to edition.
(3) 1547. . .: Many sources say 1545, but I stick with Hollstein, who has been unable to trace such a 53-pictures book from 1545. (German Engravings, Etchings, Woodcuts 1400-1700 volume 14, page 203 bottom).
(4) Holbein died in 1543, even though a lot of older books claim Holbein didn't die before 1554.
Dansk 
The dance of death
Holbein
The Great Dance of Death