Hans Holbein's Dance of Death

Creation of Eve

Ossuary

ans Holbein the Younger was born during the winter 1497-1498 in Germany. He moved to Basel (Switzerland) in 1514 where he acquired fame from his woodcuts. In 1532 he moved to England where he became known for his realistic portraits. He painted about 150 portraits - including prospective wives for Henry VIII^th. Holbein died October 1543 from the plague.

The woodcuts must have been produced in Basel between 1522 (when Hans Lützelburger came 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.

There still exists a number of printed sheets, the so-called "printer's proofs", with German titles such as Vßtribung Ade Eue and Der Rych man. Most of these prints only include 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.(1)

It wasn't before 1538 that the 41 woodcuts (including the astrologer) were published by Melchior Trechsel in Lyon under the title »Les simulachres & Historiées Faces de la Mort, avtant elegamment pourtraictes, que artificiellement imaginées«. Gone were the German headlines — instead each picture had been furnished with one or two Bible quotes at the top and a quatrain by Gilles Corrozet(2) below. This means that Holbein's dance of death is not a dance of death, but an emblem book.

Social Criticism

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 worst scene is probably the Pope, who in a most unchristian way — lets the emperor kiss his feet, surrounded by corpses and devils. Admittedly the cardinal and bishop are also ambiguous, but they can be re-interpreted and explained away. Furthermore 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.

The judge is being attacked by a corpse with an iron collar and chain — presumably representing a former victim.

Among ecclesiasticals being ridiculed are the cardinal, who's busy selling indulgences, and the bishop, who's an incompetent shepherd. The well-nourished abbot and the abbess have sworn to forsake the temptations of this world, but are still 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.

Holbein's Sources and Inspiration

Marcus Reinhart starts wih the original sin, dead men's music and ossuary.

Mors de la Pomme: Death appears as soon as Adam and Eve break the commandment of God

The old dances of death begin and end with an authority or preacher, who explains the moral of the play. This goes for the monumental dances, as we know them from Lübeck, Tallinn, Paris, Basel, London and Berlin, as well as the books: CPG 314, Heidelsberg's block book and Des dodes dantz.

Holbein doesn't have these preachers, instead he wraps the proper dance into a Christian (Protestant) context, which starts with the original sin and ends with Judgment Day. But Holbein was not the first to do so.

Already Mors de la Pomme from 1468 shows how Death appears at the very moment Adam and Eve eat the apple (picture to the right). In a book of hours by Marcus Reinhart from 1490 we can also see how the dance starts with Adam and Eve and the subtil serpent (to the left). The same is true for Accidens de l'Homme, La Vie de l'Homme and Loups Rauissans that all start with Adam and Eve (and Cain and Abel).

Accidens de l'Homme starts with Adam and Eve - end ends with Judgment Day

Holbein lets his dance of death (and his alphabet) start with musical cadavers in an ossuary. Again this is not something that Holbein has invented, for as the picture to the left shows, Marcus Reinhart's book of hours from 1490 also starts with two cadaver musicians and an ossuary. But Reinhart himself was also far from the first, for the dance of death in Basel, which is from ca. 1440, also started with an ossuary.

Holbein ends the dance with Judgment Day, but this is nothing new either, for Reinhart also ended his dance with Judgment Day, resurrection, Heaven and Hell. The same thing happens in Accidens de l'Homme (picture to the right). The latter work has also retained the final authority/author.

The big difference that really distinguishes Holbein's dance from the old monumental dances is that Death fetches people at various places in their everyday life. Here we can again point to the above French books where the humans encounter Death in the nursery and on the field, by hanging, by fall and drowning, from war and hunger.

Thus Holbein did not invent this new sub-genre, but his skill and popularity meant that these changes, as compared to the old dance, became wide-spread through him and his many imitators.

Different Editions

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, Corrozet's verses were translated from French to Latin by Georg Aemilius.(3) In 1545, the picture of a beggar was inserted in another section of the volume.(4) In 1547,(5) 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(6), 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. To the right are some of the editions:

Creation

The Fall

Expulsion

After the Fall

Bones of All Men

The Pope

Emperor

King

Cardinal

Empress

Queen

Bishop

Duke

Abbot

Abbess

Nobleman

Canon

Judge

Lawyer

Senator

Preacher

Priest

Monk

Nun

Old woman

Physician

Astrologer

Rich man

Merchant

Sailor

Knight

Count

Old man

Countess

Noblewoman

Duchess

Peddler

Peasant

Child

Judgement Day

The escutcheon

Soldier

Waggoner

Gambler

Robber

Blind man

Beggar

Drunkard

Fool

Young woman

Young man

Scabbard

Scabbard

Child

Children

Children

Children

Children

Children

Children

Creation, 1547

Holbein: A

Holbein: B

Holbein: C

Holbein: D

Holbein: E

Holbein: F

Holbein: G

Holbein: H

Holbein: I

Holbein: K

Holbein: L

Holbein: M

Holbein: N

Holbein: O

Holbein: P

Holbein: Q

Holbein: R

Holbein: S

Holbein: T

Holbein: V

Holbein: W

Holbein: X

Holbein: Y

Holbein: Z

Holbein: M

External Links

• Death in art: Holbein's dance of death (site with lots of dances of death in English and French).
• See the pages about the individual artists (E.g.: Holbein, Vogtherr, Hollar etc. etc.) for more links.

More about Holbein

• Holbein's design for a dagger sheath
• Holbein's dance of death alphabet
• Was the dance of death created by Holbein?
• The Ambassadors
• The format of Holbein's dance of death is an emblem book.

Footnotes: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Dances of death Holbein