Hollar signed his plates with his initials - a conjoined W and H.
Later a
HB.i. for "Holbein invenit" was added in the bottom, left corner of all plates.
The plates were reprinted several times until 1680, when the changing taste of fashion made them obsolete.
In 1780, a 100 years later, they were printed once again
in France but from now on without the Diepenbeecker frames. On the other hand portraits
of Hans Holbein and Wenceslaus Hollar were added (picture to the left).
Hollar's plates were published the next 20 years in Paris, Edinburgh and London.
One of the last issues was a coloured version in 1816.
Hollar and Birckmann
Hollar: Death attacks with an arrow instead of a bone; Death has no shield, but grabs the soldier;
the hourglass has been placed on one of the fallen men.
These are all variations that Hollar has copied from Birckmann.
he funny part is that most of Hollar's plates are not copies of Holbein, but rather copies of
Arnold Birckmann.
Birckmann's woodcuts often depart radically from Holbein's original cuts.
He likes to add buildings in the background,
and he tries the include Death's hourglass in those pictures, where Holbein has "forgotten" it.
One may wonder why Hollar has copied Birckmann's copies, rather than going to the source and copy
Holbein's originals. It has been suggested that maybe Hollar couldn't afford a genuine Holbein print,
and therefore had to make do with Birckmann's inferior cuts.
However, this explanation doesn't hold water,
since Hollar in many other cases ignores Birckmann's changes and employs Holbein:
In these 9 pictures, Hollar ignores Birckmann's changes:
Temptation and Fall (Birckmann's copy is very divergent),
the emperor (extra people, the direction of the emperor's glance),
the cardinal (espalier, disappearing money-box),
the empress (tower in horizon),
the duke (round tower with hourglass),
the monk (keeps pillar)
the old woman (tree instead of stalks),
the old man (hourglass and background) and
the peddler (the dog's tail).
So Hollar was perfectly aware of Holbein's originals and had access to them. A much more obvious explanation then
— and one that will probably pain many art connoisseurs —
is that Hollar in many cases has consciously preferred Birckmann's changes.
This wouldn't be a unique case: Eberhard Kieser
normally follow Holbein's originals very close, but he has also had access to the 8 plates in
Aldegrevers dance of death, and in 7 out of 8 times, he has preferred
Aldegrever's copy to Holbein — just like Hollar in 20 out of 30 cases prefer Birckmann's copies
to Holbein's originals.
On this background it can be a bit tricky to tell whether
David Deuchar has
copied Hollar, or if Deuchar and Hollar both have copied Birckmann.
enceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) published his 30 copperplates the first time in 1651.
The 30 plates are adorned by
3 frames, made by Abraham Diepenbeeck (who was a pupil of Rubens). These 3 frames depict
Democritus and Heraclitus,
Minerva and Hercules and Time and Eternity.
he funny part is that most of Hollar's plates are not copies of Holbein, but rather copies of
Arnold Birckmann.
Birckmann's woodcuts often depart radically from Holbein's original cuts.
He likes to add buildings in the background,
and he tries the include Death's hourglass in those pictures, where Holbein has "forgotten" it.
Dances of death
Holbein
