Merchant Knight

 
Sailor  
 

The Sailor

T his picture in particular shows clearly, how Holbein deviates from the earlier monumental dances of death.

First of all, the action takes place on the open sea — far away from the other "dancers" — as opposed to the dances in Lübeck, Berlin, Paris, London and Tallinn, that are chain dances.

Second, Death is no longer a messenger who simply announces the case of death. Death is an active player, who breaks the mast and thus causes the death of the sailors.

Variations: In Birckmann's picture, a man jumps overboard onto some sort of raft, where Death has placed his hourglass. Valvasor and Deuchar copies Birckmann.


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

Merchant Knight Up to Holbein's great dance of death