avid Deuchar (1743-1808) had his dance of death published first time in London 1788 (the frontispiece says 1786).
Deuchar's plates are signed HB i for "Holbein invenit" and DD f
for "David Deuchar fecit" (i.e.: Holbein has invented the design, Deuchar has executed it).
At the bottom of the frames it says "David Deuchar fecit".
Deuchar shamelessly copied the frontispiece
from Mechel by simply replacing Mechel's name with his own.
Apparently the English audience didn't think twice about an English book, printed in England,
having a French frontispiece.
All in all, Deuchar has 47 of Holbein's woodcuts —
only 4 images are lacking: all men's bones,
The Last Judgment, Young Woman and
Young man.
After going through countless reprints, Deuchar's copperplates were published as
lithographic reproductions where all details were lost.
Deuchar, Hollar and Birckmann
The castle behind the Empress is far more decorated with Hollar and Deuchar.
euchar didn't content himself with copying the frames from Hollar's book — he
also copied the 30 pictures from Hollar.
Hollar's plates were much inspired by
Arnold Birckmann's interpretation of Holbein's work.
How can one determine then, whether Deuchar has copied Hollar's copies of Holbein and Birckmann
instead of copying Holbein and Birckmann directly?
The easiest way of proving this, is to note that Deuchar has chosen the exact same variants that Hollar had chosen.
In 19 of the 30 pictures, Hollar choses to follow Birckmann instead of Holbein, in 8 cases
Hollar prefers Holbein to Birckmann and in a single case he combines elements from them both
(see the page about Hollar for details).
Every time without fail, Deuchar chooses to follow Hollar.
The only exceptions are those where Deuchar follows neither Holbein nor Hollar,
but adds some details of his own, for instance when he gives Death behind the preacher
a little bone in the hand.
Two more examples will show, how Deuchar copies Hollar instead of copying Holbein and Birckmann.
Deuchar misses the hourglass in front of the preacher because Deuchar's hourglass was indistinct.
Click the picture for details.
Hollar designs a very decorated renaissance-castle behind the empress.
Deuchar copies Hollar's decorated castle instead of Holbein and Birckmann's simpler medieval buildings.
On Hollar's picture of the preacher the hourglass is very indistinct. Deuchar
doesn't draw a castle at all, which indicates that Deuchar has copied Hollar without even
looking at Birckmann or Holbein.
But what is really strange, is that Deuchar has 17 copperplates more than Hollar has,
and when one looks at these 17 plates (which couldn't be copied from Hollar), then
it looks as if Deuchar is even more Birckmann-o-phile than Hollar was:
There's not in any of Deuchar's 17 additions
any hint that he has as much as looked at Holbein. Deuchar has copied 30 pictures from Hollar
and 17 pictures from Birckmann. There is no indication that Deuchar has ever seen any of Holbein's original woodcuts.
Deuchar has copied Hollar's copies of Birckmann's copies of Holbein.
This is deeply ironic, since Holbein is the only artist mentioned anywhere in Deuchar's book.
Neither Mechel, Hollar, Diepenbeeck nor Birckmann are being credited anywhere.
Links & Resources
Deuchar's etchings are often for sale at Ebay.
Wenceslaus Hollar Digital Collection - 2 editions of
Deuchar in high resolution scans from 1811 and 1887 respectively (1887 is a fuzzy lithographic reproduction).
avid Deuchar (1743-1808) had his dance of death published first time in London 1788 (the frontispiece says 1786).
Dances of death
Holbein
