dam earns his bread in the sweat of his face. Eve suckles Cain in the background
while holding a distaff. This is an allusion to the famous saying,
"When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman?"
The picture of Adam delving and Eve spinning, had been used for centuries before Holbein.
The picture to the left is from ca. 1450, and you can see the same motif on frescoes in Danish churches like
Ottestrup and Tågerup.
What's original is that
Death is actively helping Adam with his work.
Maybe it's meant to signify that Death is now a constant follower of man — or maybe it's because
Death is always to be found on the side of the poor and weak.
See also the duke, the count,
the judge and especiallythe peasant.
Holbein had also produced a series of illustrations for The Old Testament.
When publishing Bibles and Bible picture books, these illustrations were often
complemented with the first four pictures from the dance of death:
Creation, Temptation and Fall,
The Expulsion from Paradise and Life After the Fall.
The picture to the right is from a book from 1547 with Holbein's illustrations from The Old Testament — spiffed up with
sundry Bible quotes and didactic poems. On the right part of the picture is Noah's Ark.
Variations: Aldegrever, as he is wont to, makes a free interpretation,
and Eberhard Kieser copies Aldegrever.
Birckmann has added broken branches in the foreground and trees in the background.
Hollar and Deuchar copy Birckmann.
dam earns his bread in the sweat of his face. Eve suckles Cain in the background
while holding a distaff. This is an allusion to the famous saying,
"When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman?"
Dances of death
Holbein