Holbein's "Proof Impressions"
olbein's dance of death was published in several editions from 1538 and later.
But the woodcuts are clearly older than this.
There are several arguments to support this:
HAnns Lützelburger / formschnider / genant Franck.
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- As far as we know, the woodcutter Hans Lützelburger died in the year 1526.
At least it is proven that Melchior Trechsel in 1526
made a claim with the estate of the late "Hans Formschneider".
He had paid 17 guilders and 15 shillings in advance,
and therefore he was handed those
woodblocks that were finished.(1)
Melchior Trechsel was one of the two brothers,
who published Holbein's dance of death in 1538,
and "Hans Formschneider" was probably the same
"Hanns Lützelburger formschnider", who cut the woodblocks for Holbein's dance of death
(picture to the right).
- The same year, 1526, Holbein moved to England
(although only for a few years to begin with).
- The scenes have allusions to the peasants revolt 1524-25
(see
the count
and
the letter K)
- Holbein's dance of death alphabet was used
as early as 1524.
- Froschauer's famous Bible from 1531 copied many of Holbein's
woodcuts from the Old Testament, including
a copy of the Creation by Holbein.
The duchess' bedpost is marked "HL".
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But the final proof that
the woodcuts were finished before Holbein left the Continent,
is found in Berlin's Kupferstichkabinett.
In the Cabinet are 23 round ink drawings that are copies of the woodcuts and one of these, the emperor,
carries the year 1527.(2)
One might argue that it could be the other way around — that maybe the woodcuts are copies of the drawings —
but if this were the case they would have been laterally reversed.
Furthermore the drawing of
the duchess
is marked by the letters "HL",
which is thought to be the mark of the woodcutter (Hans Lützelburger).
There wouldn't have been such a woodcutter's mark on the original drawing,
which proves that the drawings are copies of the
woodcuts.(3)
So the woodcuts had been finished a least 12 years,
before the Trechsel brothers published them in 1538.
We can only guess as to why it took them 12 years.
Were they afraid of censorship? Or did they hope to find a woodcutter,
who could execute those woodcuts (e.g.
soldier and
waggoner)
that Hans Lützelburger had left unfinished?
At any rate there exist a number of publications, where the woodcuts
have been published without any accompanying text,
but simply with a headline over each scene.
These prints can be recognized by being printed very carefully with black ink,
and by the fact that there's no text on the back of the paper.
The astrologer, "Der Sternensecher" with black letters,
is only known in a single exemplar.
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They are often referred to as "printer's proofs" or "proof impressions" but this is misleading.
A "proof" would mean that a printer had made a single sheet
to ensure the quality, or maybe that the woodcutter had secured himself a single sheet
to display a sample of his skill.
In contrast the great number of these prints that still exist
shows that we are dealing with proper publications.
Most of these series have headlines with "ordinary" Roman letters, slightly inclined.
There are no complete collections with 41 proofs, for all are lacking
the astrologer.
The explanation is probably simply that 10 images have been printed on each of 4
sheets.(4)
There is another series, where the headlines are written with "Gothic" black letters,
and here we find a "Sternensecher" (picture to the left).
Only one copy is known of this series and
six of the scenes are missing, while five are lacking the headline.
The following table is from Woltmann.
The left column is the complete copy (but without astrologer) from the National Library of France.
The right column is the series with the astrologer and Gothic headlines,
which also resides in the National Library of France.
The sequence is very different from the one found in
the later book publications.
First come the four scenes from the Old Testament.
Then come the clergy (including the physician), then the laity and then the women.
The ossuary, which in the books marks the beginning of the dance,
instead marks the end and leads onto the final scene with Judgment Day.
As always(5)
the sequence ends with the Escutcheon of Death.
In the column to the right, the image
of the Escutcheon of Death has the headline
»Gedenck das end«, "consider the end".
Woltmann points out, that this is similar to the Bible quote that would accompany
the image in the publications from 1538 and later:
»Memorare novissima &c«.
This is from the Vulgate-Bible:
»In omnibus operibus tuis memorare novissima tua, et in aeternum non peccabis«.
In the King James Bible, Ecclesiasticus 7:36 is translated thus,
»Whatsoever thou takest in hand, remember the end, and thou shalt never do amiss«.
As a sidenote, the quote »Memorare novissima tua« also finishes
the boring sermon at the end of
Copenhagen's dance of death
(but I haven't bothered to translate this sermon).
Woltmann uses this to argue that the series with the Gothic headings must be the newer:
Partly because »Gedenck das end« prefigures the publication from 1538,
and partly because the astrologer has been included.
External links
The Woodcuts in the Original Sequence
Other interpreters of Holbein's dance of death
In 1538 the woodcuts were published in books with Bible quotes and short verses.
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Heinrich Vogtherr's copies follow the so-called proofs.
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Footnotes:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
Hans Lützelburger . . .:
I quote from
Holbein und seine Zeit af Alfred Woltmann, 1874, page 194.
Unter denen, welche Ansprüche »aus Hansen Formschneiders seligen Gut« haben, ist auch Melchior Trechsel von Lyon
mit einem geleisteten Vorschuss von 17 Gulden 15 Schilling eingetragen. Als die Hinterlassenschaft im October 1527
endlich regulirt ist, erscheint Trechsel nicht mehr unter den Gläubigern
die abzufinden sind, da er ja durch die ausgelieferten Formen Deckung erhalten.
The round drawings are described by Woltmann in
Holbein und seine Zeit, 1868, vol 2, page 109,
but I prefer to quote him in English.
From
Holbein and His Times, 1872, page 269:
That the drawings were at any rate completed before Holbein left Basle in the autumn of 1526, appears from a circumstance until now wholly unnoticed.
The rich collection of the Dance of Death in the cabinet of engravings in the Berlin Museum,
contains copies of twenty-three sheets of the woodcut series, in Indian-ink etchings on brown-coloured paper,
of a circular form, about five inches in diameter.
The copies are true, although enlarged, and are only so far different as resulted from the change of form.
Coarse, but executed with understanding, they seem to be sketches for small glass paintings.
They are made after originals, which appear in the first proof impressions,
and it is also to be perceived that they are not executed after drawings but after the woodcuts themselves;
otherwise they would be taken from the contrary side,
and would scarcely bear Hans Lützelburger'a monogram on the sheet of the Duchess.
On the fourth sheet, that of the Emperor, the date, 1527, stands over the throne.
Or 8 woodcuts on 5 sheets, etc.
A later hand has added numbers to the "proofs" in Berlin,
but only on every other woodcut, indicating that maybe they were printed two by two.
In
Literatur der Todtentänze, 1840, page 9, Maßmann brings a list of the series in Berlin.
According to him the sequence is very odd and the series starts with the Escutcheon of Death.
After several weeks of headache and conflicting sources, I have come to the conclusion
that it's best to ignore Maßmann.
Dances of death
Holbein's dance of death
Holbein's original woodcuts
