Hans Holbein's Dances of Death

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 plaque.

In this section we will examine three works by Holbein:

• Holbein's design for a dagger sheath
• Holbein's decorated alphabet - cut by Hans Lützelburger.
• Holbein's great dance of death - cut by Hans Lützelburger.

Is the dance of death designed by Holbein?

Les Simulachres (1538)

The dance of death alphabet. Signed by Hans Lützelburger

he many editions of Les Simulachres & historiees faces de la Mort vary concerning title, number of woodcuts, subtitles, language — and which books they are bundled together with (even in 1538, 41-58 small pictures was too little to fill an entire volume). The only thing the various editions have in common is that the artist behind the woodcut is anonymous.

Both the alphabet and the dance of death were published without Holbein's name - this is probably because of the critical attitude towards the Church, e.g. the pope. Therefore there has been a great deal of speculations about the authors of the works. Today the scholars agree to point at Holbein and Lützelburger. Some of the reasons are:

• The woodcutter Hans Lützelburger had written his name on many of the printers' proofs of the alphabet (to the right): »HAnns Lützelburger / formschnider / genant Franck«. British Museum is said to have a printers' proof where the spelling is »Hans Lutzelburger furmschneider, genant Franck«.

• Hans Lützelburger has carved his initials, HL, on the duchess' bed.

• The Dance of Death Alphabet and the Great Dance of Death are so similar in theme and detail that it's natural to assume they were made by the same artist.

• Both the alphabet and the Great Dance of Death are of so masterly quality that it's easier to believe they were made by the same artist, than to assume two equally gifted artists.

• The Trechsel Brothers not only published the dance of death, but also an Old Testament with woodcuts by Holbein. It was no secret that Holbein had designed the woodcuts for the The Old Testament, and in some of the Bibles and picture books, the Trechsel brothers used the pictures of Creation, Temptation and Fall, the Expulsion fra Paradis and life After the Fall from the dance of death.

Bible from 1538 with The Creation by Holbein

1547: Bible-illustrations with The Creation.

Let us look at two examples of the latter:

In 1538, the same year that the Trechsel Brothers published Holbein's dance of death for the first time, they also published The Old Testament illustrated by Holbein. The first picture was the Creation, which was taken from the dance of death (to the left).

In 1547 the woodcuts from The Old Testament were published separately — along with some didactic poems under the name Historiarum Veteris Testamenti. Here the publisher included the 4 woodcuts from the dance of death. To the right is The Creation.

In the preface, Holbein's good friend Nicolaus Bourbon wrote a poem, where he shamelessly compared Holbein to the great masters of Antiquity. In Elysium, Apelles is bewailing to Parrhasius and Zeuxis, the living painter, by whom their fame is now perfectly eclipsed: »Holbius est homini nomen, qui nomina nostra Obscura ex claris ac propè nulla fecit«.

Emblem books

An emblem book

olbein's dance of death came to define the genre - so in a way Holbein meant the end of "the real" dances of death.

In reality, Holbein's dances of death aren't dances of death, but emblem books. An emblem was a popular art form, consisting of 3 element:

1. A motto (in this case one or two Bible quotes).
2. An allegorical picture.
3. A moralizing poem.

Let's look at the difference between the monumental dances of death in Lübeck, Tallinn, Paris, London and Berlin — and Holbein's emblems:

Before Holbein (monumental dances)	After Holbein (emblems)
All participants are shown in one great dance(1) — often a chaindance.	Independent scenes. Death threatens constantly and everywhere - in the cabin, in the cellar, in the castle, in the forest, in the plough-field, on the highway and at sea.
The victims have apparently died simultaneously - probably from the Black Death.	People die at different times. Typical causes of death are war and accidents.
Death skips around to each dancer. This may give the impression that there's one Death per human.	There are often 2 Deaths for each human.
Death is a messenger - announcing to the dead that the time is up.	Death causes destruction - drags people away, trips the senator up and fights the count.
Death is equipped with a scythe in order to reap the "ripe harvest". Revelation 14:15: »[…] Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe«.	Death doesn't wait for any "ripening", but runs a lance through the knight and breaks the mast of the ship.
Dialogue between Death and the dying that helps explaining the picture.	Vaguely relevant bible quotes that were added more than 10 years after Holbein finished the pictures, and after Holbein had left the country.
Death supplies us with a moral of the story.	The didactic (instructive) element is gone — all one sees is one or more Deaths attacking the living in gleeful destruction.

In this section about Holbein

• Holbein's design for a dagger sheath
• Holbein's dance of death-alphabet:
  
  
  
• Holbein's great dance of death
• The Ambassadors

Groß-Basel, the miser in the field.

Holbein's dance of death, the miser in the cellar.

(1) One great dance...: The only pre-Holbein exception that comes to my mind is the dance of death in Basel where the miser is sitting behind a desk (picture to the left). The straws and tufts show plainly that he is sitting out of doors - together with the other dancers. The desk is the miser's attribute, not location. Compare with Holbein's version (to the right), which clearly takes place indoors.

Dansk Lübeck's dance of death → Holbein