Abbot Nobleman

 
Abbess  
 

The Abbess

Tarot card: The Fool
The World's oldest tarot deck: The Fool
Holbein's Bible illiustrations
Holbein: The Fool (Psalm 53,2)

D eath drags the abbess away, while she holds on to her rosary and her abbess-staff. Inside the monastery, one of the nuns are screaming.

Some commentators think, Death is draped with flags! Personally I believe they are long feathers. It's rather normal that fools have long feathers in their heads. See the tarot card to the left from the world's oldest tarot deck, Visconti-Sforza — or see the picture that Holbein made for The Old Testament (to the right).

Death is dressed like a fool — just like the Death that drags the queen away.

Variations: Birckmann adds a window, which is partially hidden behind Deaths head. Hollar og Deuchar copies the window.

Various Artists

Holbein 1538: Abbess
Holbein (1538)
Vogtherr 1544: Abbess
Vogtherr (1544)
Birckmann 1555: Abbess
Birckmann (1555)
Scharffenberg 1576: Abbess
Scharffenberg (1576)
Kieser 1617: Abbess
Kieser (1617)
Hollar 1651: Abbess
Hollar (1651)
Valvasor 1682: Abbess
Valvasor (1682)
Mechel 1780: Abbess
Mechel (1780)
Deuchar 1788: Abbess
Deuchar (1788)
Bewick 1789: Abbess
Bewick (1789)
Anderson 1810: Abbess
Anderson (1810)
Pseudo-Bewick 1825: Abbess
Pseudo-Bewick (1825)
Bechstein 1831: Abbess
Bechstein (1831)
Schlotthauer 1832: Abbess
Schlotthauer (1832)
Douce 1833: Abbess
Douce (1833)
Wildridge 1887: Abbess
Wildridge (1887)

Abbot Nobleman Up to Holbein's great dance of death