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
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 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.
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Mors de la Pomme: Death appears as soon as Adam and Eve break the commandment of God
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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).
One of the oldest monumental dances of death,
La Chaise Dieu,
also starts with Adam and Eve.
Accidens de l'Homme starts with Adam and Eve - end ends with Judgment Day
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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.
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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
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:
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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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