Janez Vajkard Valvasor
Title page.
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The year with Roman numerals.
V LI D L V V IV VI LI M I
5+51+500+50+5+5+6+6+51+1000+1= 1680
L I I V DVC VI VI VMI
50+1+1+5+605+6+6+1006 = 1680
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alvasor (1641-1693) was also known as Johann Weichard Valvasor.
He was a Slovenian nobleman from Ljubljana (Laybach), and he had established a printery in his castle
with a large library and collection of prints.
In 1682 he published the book Theatrum Mortis Humanæ Tripartitum.
In fact, the year is a bit uncertain because the title page of each of the three parts
indicate the year 1681,
and in the beginning of the book there's a chronogram with the year 1680 (picture to the right).
As the title says, the book is in three parts,
but only the first part is a dance of death.
The second part deals with the subject of various "types of death" (i.e. the death of famous historical persons),
and the third part shows 42 pictures of people being tortured in hell, according to what sins they have committed when living.
The pictures are framed with very detailed decorations of flowers, birds, insects and fruits.
These frames are a part of the copperplates
(sometimes you can see how the plants cross the border) and they are all different.
The bottom half of the frame for
the king
and
the robber
are almost identical and features among other things the same fable by Aesop, but it's only the bottom halves that are identical
(click the images to the the frames).
Frontispiece; The Triumph of Death
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Death appears even in those scenes where Holbein had left him out.
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The frontispiece depicts the Triumph of Death
(picture to the left) and was designed by Valvasor himself.
The crowned Death is sitting on some sort of tomb chamber,
while other Deaths are riding out through the portal
on a war elephant, camel and horses.
This probably symbolizes Death's power over the four continents, Europe (horses), Africa (elephant), Asia (camel) and
the Americas (lion).(1)
In front of the procession are Adam and Eve bound, along with the Tree of Wisdom and the subtil serpent.
The illustrations were executed by Andreas Trost and Johann (Janez) Koch,
and they follow the versions invented by
Arnold Birckmann very closely.
This is also true for Hollar and David Deuchar,
but Valvasor is even more consequent:
Hollar (and Deuchar) copied some of their scenes from Holbein, but Valvasor has only copied Birckmann.
The only exception is
the Expulsion,
where Valvasor doesn't follow Birckmann
but on the other hand doesn't make an exact copy of Holbein either.
Valvasor deviates from Birckmann in one way, namely that
Death is added to those scenes,
where Holbein and Birckmann didn't show him originally.
This means
the beggar and the chubby kids.
Crucifixion
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The sequence is a story in itself, for it is not the same as Birckmann's.
It seems that Valvasor has basically chosen the same order as
Heinrich Vogtherr, which harks back to
the so-called printer's proofs.
First come the four scenes from The Old Testament:
Creation,
Temptation and Fall,
the Expulsion and
life after the Fall.
Then follow the clergy, and Valvasor deviates from Vogtherr by including
the abbess
and
the nun
here instead of bundling them together with the other women.
Then follow the lay people
and Valvasor inserts the 12 scenes that Vogtherr didn't have, where they make sense.
For instance
the soldier
is placed after
the nobleman
— they are both fighting Death with a sword —
and after the soldier comes
the robber.
To the average citizen, soldiers and robbers have been two sides of the same coin.
Then follow the women and
the child,
and Valvasor has — very logically — placed the four images with little boys (putti) here.
The ossuary
has been placed towards the end, right before
Judgment Day,
just like Vogtherr has done. This means that the many dead musicians are not playing a prelude to the dance of death,
but rather the resurrection.
Valvasor also adds a crucifixion scene (to the right).
The only other artist to add a crucifixion scene to Holbein's dance of death is
Vogtherr.
Valvasor and Hollar
Sleeve by Birckmann
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Sleeve by Holbein
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oth Valvasor and Hollar copy Birckmann. Valvasor is from Slovenia and Hollar is from Czechia.
Is it possible then, that Valvasor might be a sort of "missing link" between Birckmann
and Hollar? Has Hollar copied Valvasor?
Hardly, since Hollar's copperplates are 31 years older than Valvasor's.
If further proof is needed, then look at the sleeve that Birckmann has
designed for the troubadour who plays for the nun.
Birckmann's sleeve (to the left) is puffy at the top and tight below,
while Holbein's original sleeve is shorter and made of strips.
Hollar (and Deuchar) copies Birckmann's sleeve, and Hollar hasn't done this via Valvasor,
because in Valvasor's version of
the nun,
the troubadour has been removed.
Is it the other way around then? Has Valvasor copied Hollar's book, which was 31 years old by then?
This is hardly credible either. First of all Valvasor has
53 scenes (including 4 of chubby boys), while Hollar only has 30.
Secondly Valvasor is much more Birckmann-o-phile than Hollar.
Hollar sometimes ignores Birckmann's deviations:
In the pictures of
Creation,
Temptation and Fall,
the emperor and
the duke,
Hollar has prefered to copy Holbein's originals.
But even in these 4 cases, Valvasor shows the same variations as Birckmann,
so there's no indication Valvasor has ever looked at Hollar.
The conclusion is then, that Valvasor and Hollar independently of each other have chosen to copy Birckmann instead of Holbein.
Resources
Theatrum Mortis
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Theatrum Mortis
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Crucifixion
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Other interpreters of Holbein's dance of death
Holbein: The nun and the minstrel.
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Birckmann: The nun and the minstrel.
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Vogtherr: Crucifixion
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Footnotes:
(1)
This interpretation was suggested by Mischa von Perger.
The different symbolic representations of the four continents vary with respect to the animals.
Africa was typically represented by African animals such as lion, camel, elephant and crocodile.
In the Baroque period, the Americas were portrayed as an alligator or armadillo,
but sometimes also as a lion. Maybe the artists were thinking of a puma or mountain lion?
Dances of death
Holbein's dance of death
Valvasor
