Judge Senator

 
Advocate  
 

The Advocate

Dance of death in Chur
Dance of death in Chur

Generous Death A rich customer pays the advocate's in hard cash, while a poor man (the rich mands opponent?) stands at the side, wringing his hands.

Death generously drops a few coins into the hand of the advocate (picture to the left), but at the same time points out that the sands of time are about to run out.

Holbein's dance of death has also inspired the dance of death in Chur in Switzerland - see picture to the right.

Mirror image of HVE H einrich Vogtherr has included his cutter's mark — a laterally reversed HVE (Heinrich Vogtherr Elterer) — in the lower, right corner. Click here for a super-sized image of Vogtherr's advocate.

Variations: Birckmann lets the advocate rest his cane on his shoulder instead of waving it around; the advocate stands on a stone plate; the buildings in the background are altered and one of them is encircled by birds. Hollar and Deuchar imitates Birckmann.

Holbein's Imagines Mortis: Advocate
Les Simulachres (1538)
Vogtherr 1544: Advocate
Vogtherr (1544)
Birckmann 1555: Advocate
Birckmann (1555)
Eberhard Kieser imaginibus: Advocate
Eberhard Kieser (1617)
Theatrum mortis humanae tripartitum: Advocate
Valvasor (1682)
Hollar 1651: Advocate
Hollar (1651)
Mechel 1780: Advocate
Mechel (1780)
Deuchar 1788: Advocate
Deuchar (1788)
Hollar coloured 1816: Advocate
Hollar coloured (1816)
Bechstein 1831: Duke
Bechstein (1831)

Judge Senator Up to Holbein's great dance of death