Hans Holbein's Dance of Death
Creation of Eve
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Ossuary
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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 VIIIth. 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 or 5 printed pages.(1)
It wasn't before 1538 that the 41 woodcuts (including the astrologer) were published by
the brothers Melchior and Gaspard 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.
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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
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.
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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 the emperor
is about to pass judgment on a poor man, when Death breaks
his sword.
The judge
ignores 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.
Is Holbein's dance of death a dance of death?
The ossuary: Lots of music
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ans Holbein's Dance of Death became incredibly popular and practically came to define the genre.
Holbein meant the end of the earlier monumental dances of death where the entire society is joined in one large chain dance.
Instead, the reader is presented with a series of independent scenes where Death seeks out his victims
in the Vatican, by the emperor's throne, in the cellar, on the street, in the forest, on the sea, on the road, etc
The woodcuts were published as emblems,
and one might ask whether it is even a dance of death, but the short answer is: Yes.
It is very much a dance:
Death dances with the young woman
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Each scene features a dancing Death dragging a reluctant human away, and there's plenty of music:
The first time Death appears is at
the expulsion from Paradise,
where Death plays the guitar,
while the actual dance starts at
the ossuary,
with horns, trombone, lyre and timpani (pictured left).
In the rest of the dance there is
bell
(the priest),
xylophone
(old lady),
dulcimer
(old man),
drum
(noblewoman),
violin
(duchess),
marine trumpet
(peddler),
bagpipes
(fool) and
horn
(young man).
A young man must play the guitar while Death dances away with
young woman
(pictured right).
In short: an impressive show of dance and music.
In comparison, the French Danse Macabre
had no music at all (it was only in the second edition that
four dead musicians were added),
the dance in Lübeck had only
a flute at the beginning,
and Tallinn has
a bagpipe at the beginning.
Holbein's Dance of Death is like any other dance of death
a mirror of society, starting with the highest in society:
the pope,
the emperor,
the king,
the cardinal,
etc.,
which moves down through society's hierarchy to end with society's weakest:
the peasant and
the child.
The dance of death is not content with simply showing society: the dance contains
— as we have already seen —
a great portion of social criticism and satire.
On the other hand, it cannot be denied that
"something new has been added", so elsewhere we will take a look at
Holbein's sources and inspiration.
Different Editions
On Vogtherr's woodcut the text is legible.
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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
children.
After several editions, the series was expanded in 1562 with
young woman,
young man and
more children.
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:
Birckmann's copies have inspired Valvasor, Hollar and Deuchar.
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Creation
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The Fall
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Expulsion
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After the Fall
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Bones of All Men
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The Pope
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Emperor
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King
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Cardinal
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Empress
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Queen
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Bishop
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Duke
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Abbot
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Abbess
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Nobleman
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Canon
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Judge
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Lawyer
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Senator
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Preacher
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Priest
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Monk
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Nun
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Old woman
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Physician
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Astrologer
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Rich man
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Merchant
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Sailor
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Knight
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Count
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Old man
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Countess
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Noblewoman
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Duchess
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Peddler
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Peasant
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Child
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Judgment Day
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The escutcheon
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Soldier
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Waggoner
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Gambler
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Robber
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Blind man
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Beggar
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Drunkard
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Fool
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Young woman
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Young man
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Child
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Children
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Children
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Children
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Children
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Children
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Children
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Creation, 1547
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Scabbard
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Scabbard
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Scabbard
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Scabbard
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Scabbard
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Beggar
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Holbein: A
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Holbein: B
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Holbein: C
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Holbein: D
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Holbein: E
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Holbein: F
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Holbein: G
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Holbein: H
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Holbein: I
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Holbein: K
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Holbein: L
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Holbein: M
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Holbein: N
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Holbein: O
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Holbein: P
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Holbein: Q
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Holbein: R
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Holbein: S
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Holbein: T
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Holbein: V
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Holbein: W
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Holbein: X
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Holbein: Y
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Holbein: Z
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Holbein: M
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External Links
More about Holbein
Footnotes:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
Or 4 woodcuts on 10 sheets, etc.
A later hand has added numbers to the so-called proofs in Berlin,
but only on every other woodcut, indicating that maybe they were printed two by two.
Georg Aemilius . . .: 1517-1569, (also called Oemmel, Aemylius, Emilius, Öhmler and Oemler).
Several authors claim that Georg Aemilius was Martin Luther's brother-in-law,
but this is incorrect. It was Georgs father, Nicolas Oemeler,
whom Luther called his boyhood friend and brother-in-law — and brother-in-law should be understood in a very broad sense,
since Nicolas Oemeler and Luther's brother Jakob had married two sisters.
another section . . .: All the books mentioned are anthologies. Even when the art
of book printing was in its infancy, 41 pictures was too little to fill
an entire volume, and therefore Holbein's woodcuts were bundled with various didactic writings.
The mixture varied from edition to edition.
1547. . .: Many sources say 1545, but I stick with Hollstein,
who has been unable to trace such a 53-pictures book from 1545.
(German Engravings,
Etchings, Woodcuts 1400-1700 volume 14, page 203 bottom).
Holbein died in 1543, even though a lot of older books claim Holbein didn't die before 1554.
Dances of death
Holbein