Grand Dance Macabre, Troyes, 17th century
Noël Moreau dit le Coq, 1610
Noël Moreau dit le Coq, 1610
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The authority
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On the previous page we saw how Nicolas Oudot published a Danse Macabre in Troyes
ca. 1600, using the original woodcuts from Paris.
The book to the left was published a few years later in the same town by Noël Moreau dit le Coq,
but all the woodcuts are copies of the Parisian blocks.
This is also true for the four dead musicians on the front page that we have known and loved since 1486.
They are copied with skill and detail, but when compared with
the original,
it's clearly a rough copy.
The pillars at the sides and the arcades above have been removed.
The exemplar that belongs to Harvard's library (see external link) has been misbound, and the G-sheet (i.e. eight pages)
has been placed before the D-sheet.
The result is that just when the dead king and the authority are about to finish the men's dance,
the story is interrupted by five pages of the women's dance and three pages of La dance aux aveugles.
Apart from this defect the content is
identical to those publications that Troyes had known ever since Nicolas le Rouge brought the original Parisian woodcuts to the town at the beginning of the 1500s.
If we compare Noël Moreau's 1610-edition with Nicolas le Rouge's 1531-edition, they both contain:
- The men's dance, including the four dead musicians (picture to the left) and the ten extra participants
that Guy Marchand had added in 1486.
Dictz des Trespassez
This woodcut is used three times, and the first time is just before la Danse Macabre has finished.
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The text displays those idiosyncrasies that we're used to see in Troyes: One line is missing in the cardinal's and the king's speeches;
Death's answer to the hermit is missing,
and just before the dead king and the authority, the dance is interrupted by a black man blowing a horn,
and the poems »Dictz des Trespassez« and »Rondeau« (picture to the right).
In this exemplar the interruption is especially violent since, as mentioned, eight other pages are inserted at this point.
- A picture of Death on a pale horse with a poem: »Pecheur regarde ta figure« (1 page).
- The black man with the horn, headlined »Cry de Mort« (1 page)
- The legend of the three dead and the three living,
finished by the black man with the horn, and a short poem also titled »Cry de Mort«
(in all: 5 pages)
- The women's dance. Two of the woodcuts are missing in Troyes (more about this later).
- Once again
the picture of Death on a pale horse
illustrating La dance aux aveugles. At the end a short ballad (»puis que ainsi et la mort soit certaine«)
(in all: 4 pages).
- A shorter version of the legend of the three dead and the three living (2 pages).
- »Le debat du Corps & de l'Ame« as advertised on the front page.
This debate between the body and soul takes up 9 pages.
- »La douleureuse complaincte de l'ame damnée« as advertised on the front page.
The damned soul's doleful lament lasts for 2 pagess.
- »Exhortation de bien viure & bien mourir« as advertised on the front page.
This exhortation also takes up 2 pages.
- »La vie du Mauluais Antechrist« as advertised on the front page. (2½ pages).
- »Quinze signes« as advertised on the front page. (1½ pages).
- »Le iugement« as advertised on the front page (3 pages).
The greatest differences are with the little stock images towards the end of the book,
which the publisher seems to have regarded as "fillers" with one religious stock image being as good as another.
In fact it is odd how closely Moreau has copied the 1531-edition.
If we instead look at the book Nicolas Oudot published ca. 1600, i.e. only ca. 10 years
before Moreau's book, the differences are far greater:
»Le debat du Corps & de l'Ame« has been printed more compactly and only takes up six pages instead of nine;
11 ekstra lines are added to the »Exhortation de bien viure« by "l'Autheur";
an extra chapter is added: »Les signes precedens du iugemens general«
(not to be confused with »Quinze signes« or »Le iugement«);
and at the end there are 1½ pages with »Dictions et proverbs«.
So Moreau's book is quite identical to the 1531-edition.
But the woodcuts are copies
and particularly those in the beginning are quite good.
Nicolas II Oudot, 1641
Troyes, 1641
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Authority, 1641
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The book on the left was published by Nicolas Oudot, but in all probability it's not the same
Nicolas Oudot, who published the original woodcuts ca. 1600.
Presumably the previous book was published by
Nicolas I Oudot (ca. 1565-1636),
while the present book was published in 1641 by the son, Nicolas II Oudot (1616-1692).
But it is not only Nicolas Oudot, who has changed.
The woodcuts have been replaced by some that are very similar to those that Noël Moreau had published in 1610.
This is not so strange at first glance
since the address is the one Moreau used to have:
Ruë nostre Dame, à l'Enseigne du Coq, ("The Street of Our Lady at the sign with the rooster").
Bibliothèque Nationale de France guesses that
Nicolas II Oudot has been the son-in-law of Noël Moreau
since he could take over workshop and materials.(1)
But the odd part is that they are not the same woodcuts.
The authority (picture to the right) is in fact the original woodcut from 1491.
except that, as we have seen elsewhere,
this woodcut was made narrower in the 1500s.
Moreau, 1610
With plant and pearl
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Oudot, 1641
With neither plant nor pearl
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The rest of the dance is made up of new woodcuts.
For unknown reasons, Oudot has chosen to produce a fresh copy of the series instead of using the original Parisian woodcuts that
his father had used around 1600,
or the ones that Noël Moreau had used — in the same house — in 1610.
The two series are very similar, but it is relatively easy to see the difference by looking at the vegetation.
In Oudot's series, the artist has often chosen to skip some of the plants, or to turn a bush into a tuft of grass.
Especially in the women's dance, Oudot's artist often forgets to decorate the arcades above the dancers.
Take the emperor for example: a plant is missing to the left of his knee,
and there is no pearl at the top of his crown.
As mentioned two woodcuts had been missing since the 1500s, and those scenes are still missing in these new versions.
Noël Moreau and Nicolas II Oudot have not been able to copy those woodcuts that had disappeared.
But this is only the beginning for the books were reprinted for many years to come in Troyes by the heirs of Oudot
Title
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External links
Further Information
Footnotes:
(1)
»Nicolas II Oudot, son gendre (?), reprend son atelier et son matériel«.
Dances of death
Danse macabre
Troyes, 1610/1641
