_List of several editions of the Lyons work on the Dance of Death,
with the mark of Lutzenberger.--Copies of them on wood.--Copies on
copper by anonymous artists.--By Wenceslaus Hollar.--Other anonymous
artists.--Nieuhoff Picard.--Rusting.--Mechel.--Crozat's
drawings.--Deuchar.--Imitations of some of the subjects._
I.
"Les Simulachres et historiees faces de la Mort, autant elegamment
pourtraictes, que artificiellement imaginees. A Lyon, Soubz l'escu de
Coloigne, MDXXXVIII." At the end "Excudebant Lugduni Melchior et Gaspar
Trechsel fratres, 1538," 4to. On this title-page is a cut of a
triple-headed figure crowned with wings, on a pedestal, over which a book
with [Greek: GNOTHI SEAUTON]. Below, two serpents and two globes, with
"usus me genuit." This has, 1. A dedication to Madame Jehanne de Touszele.
2. Diverses tables de mort, non painctes, mais extraictes de l'escripture
saincte, colorees par Docteurs Ecclesiastiques, et umbragees par
philosophes. 3. Over each print, passages from scripture, allusive to the
subject, in Latin, and at bottom the substance of them in four French
verses. 4. Figures de la mort moralement descriptes et depeinctes selon
l'authorite de l'scripture, et des Sainctz Peres. 5. Les diverses mors des
bons, et des maulvais du viel, et nouveau testament. 6. Des sepultures des
justes. 7. Memorables authoritez, et sentences des philosophes, et
orateurs Payens pour conformer les vivans a non craindre la mort. 7. De la
necessite de la mort qui ne laisse riens estre par durable." With
forty-one cuts. This may be safely regarded as the first edition of the
work. There is nothing in the title page that indicates any preceding one.
II. "Les Simulachres et historiees faces de la mort, contenant la Medecine
de l'ame, utile et necessaire non seulement aux malades mais a tous qui
sont en bonne disposition corporelle. D'avantage, la forme et maniere de
consoler les malades. Sermon de sainct Cecile Cyprian, intitule de
Mortalite. Sermon de S. Jan Chrysostome, pour nous exhorter a patience:
traictant aussi de la consommation de ce siecle, et du second advenement
de Jesus Christ, de la joye eternelle des justes, de la peine et damnation
des mauvais, et autres choses necessaires a un chascun chrestien, pour
bien vivre et bien mourir. A Lyon, a l'escu de Coloigne, chez Jan et
Francois Frellon freres," 1542, 12mo. With forty-one cuts. Then a moral
epistle to the reader, in French. The descriptions of the cuts in Latin
and French as before, and the pieces expressed in the title page.
III. "Imagines Mortis. His accesserunt, Epigrammata, e Gallico idiomate a
Georgio AEmylio in Latinum translata. Ad haec, Medicina animae, tam iis qui
firma, quam qui adversa corporis valetudine praediti sunt, maxime
necessaria. Ratio consolandi ob morbi gravitatem periculose decumbentes.
Quae his addita sunt, sequens pagina commonstrabit. Lugduni, sub scuto
Coloniensi, 1545." With the device of the crab and the butterfly. At the
end, "Lugduni Excudebant Joannes et Franciscus Frellonii fratres," 1545,
12mo. The whole of the text is in Latin, and translated, except the
scriptural passages, from the French, by George AEmylius, as he also states
in some verses at the beginning; but several of the mottoes at bottom are
different and enlarged. It has forty-two cuts, the additional one,
probably not by the former artist, being that of the beggar sitting on the
ground before an arched gate: extremely fine, particularly the beggar's
head. This subject has no connection with the Dance of Death, and is
placed in another part of the volume, though in subsequent editions
incorporated with the other prints. The "Medicina animae" is very different
from the French one. There is some reason for supposing that the Frellons
had already printed an edition with AEmylius's text in 1542. This person
was an eminent German divine of Mansfelt, and the author of many pious
works. In the present edition the first cut of the creation exhibits a
crack in the block from the top to the bottom, but it had been in that
state in 1543, as appears from an impression of it in Holbein's Bible of
that date. It is found so in all the subsequent editions of the present
work, with the exception of those in Italian of 1549 and in the Bible of
1549, in which the crack appears to have been closed, probably by
cramping; but the block again separated afterwards.
This edition is of some importance with respect to the question as to the
priority of the publication of the work in France or Germany, or, in other
words, whether at Lyons or Basle. It is accompanied by some lines
addressed to the reader, which begin in the following manner:
Accipe jucundo praesentia carmina vultu,
Seu Germane legis, sive ea Galle legis:
In quibus extremae qualis sit mortis imago
Reddidit imparibus Musa Latina modis
_Gallia quae dederat lepidis epigrammata verbis
Teutona convertens est imitata manus._
Da veniam nobis doctissime Galle, videbis
Versibus appositis reddita si qua parum.
Now, had the work been originally published in the German language,
AEmylius, himself a German, would, as already observed, scarcely have
preferred a French text for his Latin version. This circumstance furnishes
likewise, an argument against the supposed existence of German verses at
the bottom of the early impressions of the cuts already mentioned.
A copy of this edition, now in the library of the British Museum, was
presented to Prince Edward by Dr. William Bill, accompanied with a Latin
dedication, dated from Cambridge, 19 July, 1546, wherein he recommends the
prince's attention to the figures in the book, in order to remind him that
all must die to obtain immortality; and enlarges on the necessity of
living well. He concludes with a wish that the Lord will long and happily
preserve his life, and that he may finally reign to all eternity with his
_most Christian father_. Bill was appointed one of the King's chaplains in
ordinary, 1551, and was made the first Dean of Westminster in the reign of
Elizabeth.
IV. "Imagines Mortis. Duodecim imaginibus praeter priores, totidemque
inscriptionibus praeter epigrammata e Gallicis a Georgio AEmylio in Latinum
versa, cumulatae. Quae his addita sunt, sequens pagina commonstrabit.
Lugduni sub scuto Coloniensi, 1547." With the device of the crab and
butterfly. At the end, "Excudebat Joannes Frellonius, 1547," 12mo. This
edition has twelve more cuts than those of 1538 and 1542, and eleven more
than that of 1545, being, the soldier, the gamblers, the drunkards, the
fool, the robber, the blind man, the wine carrier, and four of boys. In
all fifty-three. Five of the additional cuts have a single line only in
the frames, whilst the others have a double one. All are nearly equal in
merit to those which first appeared in 1538.
V. "Icones Mortis, Duodecim imaginibus praeter priores, totidemque
inscriptionibus, praeter epigrammata e Gallicis a Georgio AEmylio in Latinum
versa, cumulatae. Quae his addita sunt, sequens pagina commonstrabit,
Lugduni sub scuto Coloniensi, 1547." 12mo. At the end, Excudebat Johannes
Frellonius, 1547. This edition contains fifty-three cuts, and is precisely
similar to the one described immediately before, except that it is
entitled _Icones_, instead of _Imagines_ Mortis.
VI. "Les Images de la Mort. Auxquelles sont adjoustees douze figures.
Davantage, la medecine de l'ame, la consolation des malades, un sermon de
mortalite, par Sainct Cyprian, un sermon de patience, par Sainct Jehan
Chrysostome. A Lyon. A l'escu de Cologne, chez Jehan Frellon, 1547." With
the device of the crab and butterfly. At the end, "Imprime a Lyon a l'escu
de Coloigne, par Jehan Frellon, 1547. 12mo." The verses at bottom of the
cuts the same as in the edition of 1538, with similar ones for the
additional. In all, fifty-three cuts.
VII. "Simolachri historie, e figure de la morte. La medicina de l'anima.
Il modo, e la via di consolar gl'infermi. Un sermone di San Cipriano, de
la mortalita. Due orationi, l'un a Dio, e l'altra a Christo. Un sermone di
S. Giovan. Chrisostomo, che ci essorta a patienza. Aiuntovi di nuovo molte
figure mai piu stampate. In Lyone appresso Giovan Frellone MDXLIX." 12mo.
With the device of the crab and butterfly. At the end, the same device on
a larger scale in a circle. Fifty-three cuts. The scriptural passages are
in Latin. To this edition Frellon has prefixed a preface, in which he
complains of a pirated copy of the work in Italian by a printer at Venice,
which will be more particularly noticed hereafter. He maintains that the
cuts in this spurious edition are far less beautiful than the _French_
ones, and this passage goes very far in aid of the argument that they are
not of German origin. Frellon, by way of revenge, and to save the trouble
of making a new translation of the articles that compose the volume, makes
use of that of his Italian competitor.
VIII. "Icones Mortis. Duodecim Imaginibus praeter priores, totidemque
inscriptionibus, praeter epigrammata e Gallicis a Georgio AEmylio in Latinum
versa, cumulatae. Quae his addita sunt, sequens pagina commonstrabit.
Basileae, 1554. 12mo." With fifty-three cuts. It would not be very easy to
account for the absence of the name of the Basle printer.
IX. "Les Images de la Mort, auxquelles sont adjoustees dix sept figures.
Davantage, la medecine de l'ame. La consolation des malades. Un sermon de
mortalite, par Saint Cyprian. Un sermon de patience, par Saint Jehan
Chrysostome. A Lyon, par Jehan Frellon, 1562." With the device of the crab
and butterfly. At the end, "A Lyon, par Symphorien Barbier," 12mo. This
edition has five additional cuts, viz. 1. A group of boys, as a triumphal
procession, with military trophies. 2. The bride; the husband plays on a
lute, whilst Death leads the wife in tears. 3. The bridegroom led by Death
blowing a trumpet. Both these subjects are appropriately described in the
verses below. 4. A group of boy warriors, one on horseback with a
standard. 5. Another group of boys with drums, horns, and trumpets. These
additional cuts are designed and engraved in the same masterly style as
the others, but it is now impossible to ascertain the artists who have
executed them. From the decorations to several books published at Lyons it
is very clear that there were persons in that city capable of the task.
Holbein had been dead eight years, after a long residence in London.
Du Verdier, in his Bibliotheque Francoise, mentions this edition, and adds
that it was translated from the French into Latin, Italian, Spanish,
German, and English;[113] a statement that stands greatly in need of
confirmation as to the last three languages, but this writer, on too many
occasions, deserves but small compliment for his accuracy.
X. "Imagines Mortis: item epigrammata e Gall. a G. AEmilio in Latinum
versa. Lugdun. Frellonius, 1574." 12mo.[114]
XI. In 1654 a Dutch work appeared with the following title, "De Doodt
vermaskert met swerelts ydelheyt afghedaen door G. V. Wolsschaten,
verciert met de constighe Belden vanden maerden Schilder Hans Holbein.
_i. e._ Death masked, with the world's vanity, by G. V. Wolsschaten,
ornamented with the ingenious images of the famous painter Hans Holbein.
T'Antwerpen, by Petrus Bellerus." This is on an engraved frontispiece of
tablet, over which are spread a man's head and the skin of two arms
supported by two Deaths blowing trumpets. Below, a spade, a pilgrim's
staff, a scepter, and a crosier, with a label, on which is "sceptra
ligonibus aequat." Then follows another title-page, with the same words,
and the addition of Geeraerdt Van Wolsschaten's designation, "Prevost van
sijne conincklijcke Majesteyts Munten des Heertoogdoms van Brabant, &c.
MDCLIV." 12mo. The author of the text, which is mixed up with poetry and
historical matter, was prefect of the mint in the Duchy of Brabant.[115]
This edition contains eighteen cuts, among which the following subjects
are from the original blocks. 1. Three boys. 2. The married couple. 3. The
pedlar. 4. The shipwreck. 5. The beggar. 6. The corrupt judge. 7. The
astrologer. 8. The old man. 9. The physician. 10. The priest with the
eucharist. 11. The monk. 12. The abbess. 13. The abbot. 14. The duke. Four
others, viz. the child, the emperor, the countess, and the pope, are
copies, and very badly engraved. The blocks of the originals appear to
have fallen into the hands of an artist, who probably resided at Antwerp,
and several of them have his mark, [monogram: SA], concerning which more
will be said under one of the ensuing articles. As many engravings on wood
by this person appeared in the middle of the sixteenth century, it is
probable that he had already used these original blocks in some edition of
the Dance of Death that does not seem to have been recorded. There are
evident marks of retouching in these cuts, but when they first appeared
cannot now be ascertained. The mark might have been placed on them, either
to denote ownership, according to the usual practice at that time, or to
indicate that they had been repaired by that particular artist.
All these editions, except that of 1574, have been seen and carefully
examined on the present occasion: the supposed one of 1530 has not been
included in this list, and remains to be seen and accurately described, if
existing, by competent witnesses.
Papillon, in his Traite de la gravure en bois, has given an elaborate,
but, as usual with him, a very faulty description of these engravings. He
enlarges on the beauty of the last cut with the allegorical coat of arms,
and particularly on that of the gentleman whose right hand he states to be
placed on its side, whilst it certainly is extended, and touches with the
back of it the mantle on which the helmet and shield of arms are placed.
He errs likewise in making the female look towards a sort of dog's head,
according to him, under the mantle and right hand of her husband, which,
he adds, might be taken for the pummell of his sword, and that she fondles
this head with her right hand, &c. not one word of which is correct. He
says that a good impression of this print would be well worth a Louis d'or
to an amateur. He appears to have been in possession of the block
belonging to the subject of the lovers preceded by Death with a drum; but
it had been spoiled by the stroke of a plane.
COPIES OF THE ABOVE DESIGNS, AND ENGRAVED ALSO ON WOOD.
I. At the head of these, in point of merit, must be placed the Italian
spurious edition mentioned in No. VII. of the preceding list. It is
entitled "Simolachri historie, e figure de la morte, ove si contiene la
medicina de l'anima utile e necessaria, non solo a gli ammalati, ma tutte
i sani. Et appresso, il modo, e la via di consolar gl'infermi. Un sermone
di S. Cipriano, de la mortalita. Due orationi, l'una a Dio, e l'altra a
Christo da dire appresso l'ammalato oppresso da grave infermita. Un
sermone di S. Giovan Chrisostomo, che ci essorta a patienza; e che tratta
de la consumatione del secolo presente, e del secondo avenimento di Jesu
Christo, de la eterna felicita de giusti, de la pena e dannatione de rei;
et altre cose necessarie a ciascun Christiano, per ben vivere, e ben
morire. Con gratia e privilegio de l'illustriss. Senato Vinitiano, per
anni dieci. Appresso Vincenzo Vaugris al segno d'Erasmo, MDXLV." 12mo.
With a device of the brazen serpent, repeated at the end. It has all the
cuts in the genuine edition of the same date, except that of the beggar at
the gate. It contains a very moral dedication to Signor Antonio Calergi by
the publisher Vaugris or Valgrisi; in which, with unjustifiable
confidence, he enlarges on the great beauty of the work, the cuts in which
are, in his estimation, not merely equal, but far superior to those in the
French edition in design and engraving. They certainly approach the
nearest to the fine originals of all the imitations, but will be found on
comparison to be inferior. The mark [monogram: HL] on the cut of the
duchess sitting up in bed, with the two Deaths, one of whom is fiddling,
whilst the other pulls at the clothes, is retained, but this could not be
with a view to pass these engravings as originals, after what is stated in
the dedication. An artist's eye will easily perceive the difference in
spirit and decision of drawing. In the ensuing year 1546, Valgrisi
republished this book in Latin, but without the dedication, and there are
impressions of them on single sheets, one of which has at the bottom, "In
Venetia, MDLXVIII. Fra. Valerio Faenzi Inquis. Apreso Luca Bertelli." So
that they required a license from the Inquisition.
II. In the absence of any other Italian editions of the "Simolachri," it
is necessary to mention that twenty-four of the last-mentioned cuts were
introduced in a work of extreme rarity, and which has escaped the notice
of bibliographers, intitled "Discorsi Morali dell' eccell. Sig. Fabio
Glissenti contra il dispiacer del morire. Detto Athanatophilia Venetia,
1609." 4to. These twenty-four were probably all that then remained; and
five others of subjects belonging also to the "Simolachri," are inserted
in this work, but very badly imitated, and two of them reversed. In the
subject of the Pope there is in the original a brace of grotesque devils,
one of which is completely erased in Glissenti, and a plug inserted where
the other had been scooped out. A similar rasure of a devil occurs in the
subject of the two rich men in conversation, the demon blowing with a
bellows into his ear, whilst a poor beggar in vain touches him to be
heard. Besides these cuts, Glissenti's work is ornamented with a great
number of others, connected in some way or other with the subject of
Death, which the author discusses in almost every possible variety of
manner. He appears to have been a physician, and an exceedingly pious man.
His portrait is prefixed to every division of the work, which consists of
five dialogues.
III. In an anonymous work, intitled "Tromba sonora per richiamar i morti
viventi dalla tomba della colpa alla vita della gratia. In Venetia, 1670."
8vo. Of which there had already been three editions; there are six of the
prints from the originals, as in the "Simolachri," &c. No. I. and a few
others, the same as the additional ones to Glissenti's work.
In another volume, intitled "Il non plus ultra di tutte le scienze
ricchezze honori, e diletti del mondo, &c. In Venetia, 1677." 24mo. There
are twenty-five of the cuts as in the Simolachri, and several others from
those added to Glissenti.
IV. A set of cuts which do not seem to have belonged to any work. They are
very close copies of the originals. On the subject of the Duchess in bed,
the letter [monogram: S] appears on the base of one of the pillars or
posts, instead of the original [monogram: HL], and it is also seen on the
cut of the soldier pierced by the lance of Death. Two have the date 1546.
In that of the monk, whom, in the original, Death seizes by the cowl or
hood, the artist has made a whimsical alteration, by converting the hood
into a fool's cap with bells and asses' ears, and the monk's wallet into a
fool's bauble. It is probable that he was of the reformed religion.
V. "Imagines Mortis, his accesserunt epigrammata e Gallico idiomate a
Georgio AEmylio in Latinum translata, &c. Coloniae apud haeredes Arnoldi
Birckmanni, anno 1555. 12mo." With fifty-three cuts. This may be regarded
as a surreptitious edition of No. IV. of the originals by [monogram: HL]
p. 106. The cuts are by the artist mentioned in No. IX. of those
originals, whose mark is [monogram: SA] which is here found on five of
them. They are all reversed, except the nobleman; and although not devoid
of merit, they are not only very inferior to the fine originals, but also
to the Italian copies in No. I. The first two subjects are newly designed;
the two Devils in that of the Pope are omitted, and there are several
variations, always for the worse, in many of the others, of which a
tasteless example is found in that of Death and the soldier, where the
thigh bone, as the very appropriate weapon of Death, is here converted
into the common-place dart. The mark [monogram: HL] in the original cut of
the Duchess in bed, is here omitted, without the substitution of any
other. This edition was republished by the same persons, without any
variation, successively in 1557, 1566, 1567, and 1573.[116]
Papillon, in his "Traite sur la gravure en bois,"[117] when noticing the
above-mentioned mark, has, amidst the innumerable errors that abound in
his otherwise curious work, been led into a mistake of an exceedingly
ludicrous nature, by converting the owner of the mark into a cardinal. He
had found it on the cuts to an edition of Faerno's fables, printed at
Antwerp, 1567, which is dedicated to Cardinal Borromeo by Silvio
Antoniano, professor of Belles Lettres at Rome, afterwards secretary to
Pope Pius IV. and at length himself a Cardinal. He was the editor of
Faerno's work. Another of Papillon's blunders is equally curious and
absurd. He had seen an edition of the Emblems of Sambucus, with cuts,
bearing the mark [monogram: SA] in which there is a fine portrait of the
author with his favourite dog, and under the latter the word BOMBO, which
Papillon gravely states to be the name of the engraver; and finding the
same word on another of the emblems which has also the dog, he concludes
that all the cuts which have not the [monogram: SA] were engraved by the
same BOMBO. Had Papillon, a good artist in his time, but an ignorant man,
been able to comprehend the verses belonging to that particular emblem, he
would have seen that the above word was merely the name of the dog, as
Sambucus himself has declared, whilst paying a laudable tribute to the
attachment of the faithful companion of his travels. Brulliot, in his
article on the mark [monogram: SA][118] has mentioned Papillon's ascription
of it to Silvio Antoniano, but without correcting the blunder, as he ought
to have done. This monogram appears on five of the cuts to the present
edition of the "Imagines Mortis;" but M. De Murr and his follower Janssen,
are not warranted in supposing the rest of them to have been engraved by a
different artist.
It will perhaps not be deemed an unimportant digression to introduce a few
remarks concerning the owner of the above monogram. It is by no means
clear whether he was a designer or an engraver, or even both. There is a
chiaroscuro print of a group of saints, engraved by Peter Kints, an
obscure artist, with the name of Antony Sallaerts at length, and the mark.
Here he appears as a designer. M. Malpe, the Besancon author of "Notices
sur les graveurs," speaks of Sallaerts as an excellent painter, born at
Brussels about 1576, which date cannot possibly apply to the artist in
question; but at the same time, he adds, that he is said to have engraved
on wood the cuts in a little catechism printed at Antwerp that have the
monogram [monogram: SA]. These are certainly very beautiful, in accordance
with many others with the same mark, and very superior in design to those
which have it in the "Imagines Mortis." M. Malpe has also an article for
Antony Silvyus or Silvius, born at Antwerp about 1525, and he mentions
several books with engravings and the mark in question, which he gives to
the same person. M. Brulliot expresses a doubt as to this artist; but it
is very certain there was a family of that name, and surnamed, or at least
sometimes called, Bosche or Bush, which indeed is more likely to have been
the real Flemish name Latinized into Silvius. Foppens[119] has mentioned
an Antony Silvius, a schoolmaster at Antwerp, in 1565, and several other
members of this family. Two belonging to it were engravers, and another a
writing master.
Whether the artist in question was a Sallaerts or a Silvius, it is certain
that Plantin, the celebrated printer, employed him to decorate several of
his volumes, and it is to be regretted that an unsuccessful search has
been made for him in Plantin's account books, that were not long since
preserved, with many articles belonging to him, in his house at Antwerp.
His mark also appears in several books printed in England during the reign
of Elizabeth, and particularly on a beautiful set of initial letters, some
of which contain the story of Cupid and Psyche, from the supposed designs
by Raphael, and other subjects from Ovid's Metamorphoses: these have been
counterfeited, and perhaps in England. The initial [monogram: G], in this
alphabet, with the subject of Leda and the swan, was inadvertently
prefixed to the sacred name at the beginning of St. Paul's Epistle to the
Hebrews in the Bishop's Bible, printed by Rd. Jugge in 1572, and in one of
his Common Prayer Books. An elegant portrait of Edward VI. with the mark
[monogram: SA] is likewise on Jugge's edition of the New Testament, 1552,
4to. and there is reason to believe that Jugge employed this artist, as
the same monogram appears on a cut of his device of the pelican.
VI. In the German volume, the title of which is already given in the first
article of the engravings from the Basle painting,[120] there are
twenty-nine subjects belonging to the present work; the rest relating to
the Basle dance, except two or three that are not in either of them. These
have fallen into the hands of a modern bookseller, but there can be no
doubt that there were other editions which contained the whole set. The
most of them have the letters [monogram: G. S.] with the graving tool, and
one has the date 1576. The name of this artist is unknown; but M. Bartsch
has mentioned several other engravings by him, omitting, however, the
present, which, it is to be observed, sometimes vary in design from the
originals.
VII. "Imagines Mortis illustratae epigrammatis Georgii AEmylii theol.
doctoris. Fraxineus AEmylio Suo. Criminis ut poenam mortem mors sustulit
una: sic te immortalem mortis imago facit." With a cut of Death and the
old man. This is the middle part only of a work, intitled "Libellus
Davidis Chytraei de morte et vita aeterna. Editio postrema; cui additae sunt
imagines mortis, illustrata Epigrammatis D. Georgio AEmylio, Witebergae.
Impressus a Matthaeo Welack, anno MDXC." 12mo. The cuts, fifty-three in
number, are, on the whole, tolerably faithful, but coarsely engraved. In
the subject of the Pope the two Devils are omitted, and, in that of the
Counsellor, the Demon blowing with a bellows into his ear is also wanting.
Some have the mark [monogram: cross], and one that of [monogram: W] with a
knife or graving tool.
VIII. "Todtentanz durch alle stendt der menschen, &c. furgebildet mit
figuren. S. Gallen, 1581." 4to. See Janssen, Essai sur l'origine de la
gravure, i. 122, who seems to make them copies of the originals.
IX. The last article in this list of the old copies, though prior in date
to some of the preceding, is placed here as differing materially from them
with respect to size. It is a small folio, with the following title,
"Todtentantz,
Das menschlichs leben anders nicht
Dann nur ain lauff zum Tod
Und Got ain nach seim glauben richt
Dess findstu klaren tschaid
O Mensch hicrinn mit andacht lisz
Und fassz zu hertzen das
So wirdsttu Ewigs hayls gewisz
Kanst sterben dester bas.
MDXLIIII.
Desine longaevos exposcere sedulus annos
Inque bonis multos annumerare dies
Atque hodie, fatale velit si rumpere filum
Atropos, impavido pectore disce mori."
At the end, "Gedruckt inn der kaiserlichen Reychstatt Augspurg durch Jobst
Denecker Formschneyder." This edition is not only valuable for its extreme
rarity, but for the very accurate and spirited manner in which the fine
original cuts are copied. It contains all the subjects that were then
published, but not arranged as those had been. It has the addition of one
singular print, intitled "Der Eebrecher," _i. e._ the Adulterer,
representing a man discovering the adulterer in bed with his wife, and
plunging his sword through both of them, Death guiding his hands. On the
opposite page to each engraving there is a dialogue between Death and the
party, and at bottom a Latin hexameter. The subject of the Pleader has the
unknown mark [monogram], and on that of the Duchess in bed, there is the
date 1542. From the above colophon we are to infer that Dennecker, or as
he is sometimes, and perhaps more properly, called De Necker or De Negher,
was the engraver, as he is known to have executed many other engravings on
wood, especially for Hans Schaufelin, with whom he was connected. He was
also employed in the celebrated triumph of Maximilian, and in a collection
of saints, to whom the family of that emperor was related.
X. "Emblems of Mortality, representing, in upwards of fifty cuts, Death
seizing all ranks and degrees of people, &c. Printed for T. Hodgson, in
George's Court, St. John's Lane, Clerkenwell, 1789. 12mo." With an
historical essay on the subject, and translations of the Latin verses in
the Imagines Mortis, by John Sidney Hawkins, esq. The cuts were engraved
by the brother of the celebrated Bewick, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and a
pupil of Hodgson, who was an engraver on wood of some merit at that time.
They are but indifferently executed, but would have been better had the
artist been more liberally encouraged by the master, who was the publisher
on his own account, Mr. Hawkins very kindly furnishing the letter-press.
They are faithful copies of all the originals, except the first, which,
containing a figure of the Deity habited as a Pope, was scrupulously
exchanged for another design. A frontispiece is added, representing Death
leading up all classes of men and women.
XI. "The Dance of Death of the celebrated Hans Holbein, in a series of
fifty-two engravings on wood by Mr. Bewick, with letter-press
illustrations.
What's yet in this
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life
Lie hid more thousand Deaths: yet Death we fear,
That makes these odds all even.
SHAKSPEARE.
London. William Charlton Wright." 12mo. With a frontispiece, partly copied
from that in the preceding article, a common-place life of Holbein, and an
introduction pillaged verbatim from an edition with Hollar's cuts,
published by Mr. Edwards. The cuts, with two or three exceptions, are
imitated from the originals, but all the human figures are ridiculously
modernised. The text to the subjects is partly descriptions in prose, and
partly Mr. Hawkins's verses, and the cuts, if Bewick's, very inferior to
those in his other works.
XII. "Emblems of Mortality, representing Death seizing all ranks and
degrees of people. Imitated in a series of wood cuts from a painting in
the cemetery of the Dominican church at Basil in Switzerland, with
appropriate texts of scripture, and a poetical apostrophe to each, freely
translated from the Latin and French. London. Printed for Whittingham and
Arliss, juvenile library, Paternoster-row." 12mo. The frontispiece and the
rest of the cuts, with two exceptions, from the same blocks as those used
for the last-mentioned edition. The preface, with very slight variation,
is abridged from that by Mr. Hawkins in No. VIII. and the descriptive
verses altogether the same as those in that edition. Both the last
articles seem intended for popular and juvenile use. It will be
immediately perceived that the title page is erroneous in confounding the
Basle Dance of Death with that in the volume itself.
XIII. The last in this list is "Hans Holbein's Todtentanz in 53 getreu
nach den holtz schnitten lithographirten Blattern. Herausgegeben von J.
Schlotthauer, K. Professor. Mit erklaerendem Texte. Munschen, 1832. Auf
kosten des Herausgebers," 12mo. or, "Hans Holbein's Dance of Death in
fifty-three lithographic leaves, faithfully taken from wood engravings.
Published by J. Schlotthauer, royal professor, with explanatory text.
Munich, 1832. At the cost of the editors." This work is executed in so
beautiful and accurate a manner that it might easily be mistaken for the
wood originals.
The professor has substituted German verses, communicated by a friend,
instead of the former Latin ones. He states that the subject will be taken
up by Professor Massman, of Munich, whose work will satisfy all enquiries
relating to it. Massman, however, has added to this volume a sort of
explanatory appendix, in which some of the editions are mentioned. He
thinks it possible that the cholera may excite the same attention to this
work as the plague had formerly excited to the old Macaber Dance at Basle,
and concludes with a promise to treat the subject more at large at some
future time.
COPIES OF THE SAME DESIGNS, ENGRAVED IN COPPER.
I. "Todten Dantz durch alle stande und Beschlecht der Menschen, &c."
_i. e._ "Death's Dance through all ranks and conditions of men." This
title is on a frontispiece representing a gate of rustic architecture, at
the top of which are two boy angels with emblems of mortality between
them, and underneath are the three Fates. At the bottom, Adam and Eve with
the tree of knowledge, each holding the apple presented by the serpent.
Between them is a circular table, on which are eight sculls of a Pope,
Emperor, Cardinal, &c. with appropriate mottoes in Latin. On the outer
edge of the table STATVTVM EST OMNIBVS HOMINIBVS SEMEL MORI POST HOC AVTEM
IVDICIVM. In the centre the letters MVS, the terminating syllable of each
motto. Before the gate are two pedestals, inscribed MEMENTO MORI and
MEMORARE NOVISSIMA, on which stand figures of Death supporting two
pyramids or obelisks surmounted with sculls and a cross, and inscribed
ITER AD VITAM. Below, "Eberh. Kieser excudit." This frontispiece is a copy
of a large print engraved on wood long before. Without date, in quarto.
The work consists of sixty prints within borders of flowers, &c. in the
execution of which two different and anonymous artists have been employed.
At the top of each print is the name of the subject, accompanied with a
passage from scripture, and at the bottom three couplets of German verses.
Most of the subjects are copied from the completest editions of the Lyons
cuts, with occasional slight variations. They are not placed in the same
order, and all are reversed, except Nos. 57 and 60. No. 12 is not
reversed, but very much altered, a sort of duplicate of the Miser. No. 50,
the Jew, and No. 51, the Jewess, are entirely new. The latter is sitting
at a table, on which is a heap of money, and Death appears to be giving
effective directions to a demon to strangle her. No. 52 is also new. A
castle within a hedge. Death enters one of the windows by a ladder, whilst
a woman looks out of another.[121] The subject is from Jeremiah, ch. ix.
v. 21. "Death is come up into our windows, &c." In the subject of the
Pope, the two Devils are omitted. Two military groups of boys, newly
designed, are added. The following are copies from Aldegrever, Nos. 1, 2,
3, 4, 6, 11, and 12. At the beginning and end of the book there are moral
poems in the German language.
II. Another edition of the same cuts. The title-page of the copy here
described is unfortunately lost. It has a dedication in Latin to three
patricians of Frankfort on the Maine by Daniel Meisner a Commenthaw, Boh.
Poet. L. C. dated, according to the Roman capitals, in a passage from
Psalm 46, in the year 1623. This is followed by the Latin epigram, or
address to the reader, by Geo. AEmylius, whose translations of the original
French couplets are also given, as well as the originals themselves. These
are printed on pages opposite to the subjects, but they are often very
carelessly transposed. At the end the date 1623 is twice repeated by means
of the Roman capitals in two verses from Psalms 78 and 63, the one German,
the other Latin. 12mo.
III. "Icones Mortis sexaginta imaginibus totidemque inscriptionibus
insignitae, versibus quoque Latinis et novis Germanicis illustratae.
Vorbildungen desz Todtes. In sechtzig figuren durch alle Stande und
Geschlechte, derselbigen nichtige Sterblichkeit furzuweisen, aus gebruckt,
und mit so viel ubors schriffren, auch Lateinischen und neuen Teutschen
Verszlein erklaret. Durch Johann Vogel. Bey Paulus Fursten Kunsthandlern
zu finden." On the back of this printed title is an engraving of a hand
issuing from the clouds and holding a pair of scales, in one of which is a
scull, in the other a Papal tiara, sceptre, &c. weighing down the scull.
On the beam of the scales an hour glass and an open book with Arabic
numerals. In the distance, at bottom, is seen a traveller reposing in a
shed. Above is a label, inscribed "Metas et tempora libro," and below,
"Ich Wage ziel und zeitten ab." Then follows a neatly engraved and regular
title-page. At top, a winged scull surmounted with an hour-glass, and
crossed with a spade and scythe. At bottom, three figures of Death sitting
on the ground; one of them plays on a hautboy, or trumpet, another on a
bagpipe, and the third has a drum behind him. The middle exhibits a
circular Dance of Death leading by the hand persons of all ranks from the
Emperor downwards. In the centre of this circle "Toden Tantz zu finden bey
Paulus Furst Kunst handlern," and quite at the bottom of the page, "G.
Stra. in. A. Khol fecit." Next comes an exhortation on Death to the reader
in Latin verse, followed by several poems in German and Latin, those in
German signed G. P. H. Immediately afterwards, and before the first cut of
the work is another elegantly engraved frontispiece representing an arched
gate of stone surmounted with three sculls of a Pope, a Cardinal, and a
King, between a vase of flowers on the right, and a pot of incense, a cock
standing near it, on the left. On the keystone of the gate are two tilting
lances in saltier, to which a shield and helmet are suspended. Through the
arch is seen a chamber, in which there seems to be a bier, and near it a
cross. On the left of the gate is a niche with a scull and bones in it.
Below are two large figures of Death. That on the left has a wreath of
flowers round its head, and is beating a bell with a bone. Under him is an
owl, and on the side of his left knee a scythe. The other Death has a cap
and feather, in his right hand an hour-glass, the left pointing to the
opposite figure. On the ground between them, a bow, a quiver of arrows and
a dart. On the left inner side of the gate a pot with holy water is
suspended to a ring, the sprinkler being a bone. Further on, within the
gate, is a flat stone, on which are several sculls and bones, a snake
biting one of the sculls. On the right hand corner at bottom is the letter
[monogram: A], perhaps the mark of the unknown engraver. The explanations
on the pages opposite to each print are in German and Latin verses, the
latter by AEmylius, with occasional variations. This edition has the sixty
prints in the two preceding Nos. some of them having been retouched; and
the cut of the King at table, No. 9, is by a different engraver from the
artist of the same No. in the preceding 4to. edition, No. I. The present
edition has also an additional engraving at the end, representing a gate,
within which are seen several sculls and bones, other sculls in a niche,
and in the distance a cemetery with coffins and crosses. Over the gate a
scull on each side, and on the outer edge of the arch is the inscription,
"Quis Rex, quis subditus hic est?" At bottom,
Hie sage wer es sagen kan | Here let tell who may:
Wer konig sey? wer unterthan. | Or, which be the king? which the subject?
Paulus Furst Excu.
The whole of the print in a border of sculls, bones, snakes, toads, and a
lizard. Opposite to it the date 1647 is to be gathered from the Roman
capitals in two scriptural quotations, the one in Latin, the other in
German, ending with this colophon, "Gedrucht zu Nuremberg durch Christoff
Lochner. In Verlegung Paul Fursten Kunsthandlern allda." 12mo.
IV. A set of engravings, 8 inches by 8, of which the subject of the
Pedlar, only has occurred on the present occasion. Instead of the
trump-marine, which one of the Deaths plays on in the original cut, this
artist has substituted a violin, and added a landscape in the back-ground.
Below are these verses:
LA MORT.
Sus? cesse ton traficq, car il fault a ceste heure
Que tu sente l'effort de mon dard assere.
Tu as assez vescu, il est temps que tu meure,
Mon coup inevitable est pour toy prepare.
LE MARCHANT.
Et de grace pardon, arreste ta cholere.
Je suis pauvre marchant appaise ta rigueur.
Permete qu'encore un temps je vive en ceste terre:
Et puis tu recevras l'offrande de mon coeur.
V. A set of thirty etchings by Wenceslaus Hollar, within elegant frames or
borders designed by Diepenbecke, of which there are three varieties. The
first of these has at the top a coffin with tapers, at bottom, Death lying
prostrate. The sides have figures of time and eternity. At bottom, _Ab.
Diepenbecke inv. W. Hollar fecit_. The second has at top a Death's head
crowned with the Papal tiara; at bottom, a Death's head with cross-bones
on a tablet, accompanied by a saw, a globe, armour, a gun, a drum, &c. On
the sides are Hercules and Minerva. At bottom, _Ab. Diepenbecke inv. W.
Hollar fecit, 1651_. The third has at top a Death's head, an hour-glass
winged between two boys; at bottom, a Death's head and cross-bones on a
tablet between two boys holding hour-glasses. On the sides, Democritus and
Heraclitus with fools' caps. This border has no inscription below. As
these etchings are not numbered, the original arrangement of them cannot
be ascertained. The names of Diepenbecke and Hollar are at the bottom of
several of the borders, &c. On the subject of the Queen is the mark
[monogram: UH] and on three others that of [monogram: WH]. This is the
first and most desirable state of the work, the borders having afterwards
fallen into the hands of Petau and Van Morle, two foreign printsellers,
whose impressions are very inferior. It has not been ascertained what
became of these elegant additions, but the work afterwards appeared
without them, and with the additional mark [monogram: HB] _i._ on every
print, and intended for Holbein invenit. It is very certain that Hollar
himself did not place this mark on the prints; he has never introduced it
in any of his copies from Holbein, always expressing that painter's name
in these several ways: [monogram: HH], [monogram: HHolbein] _inv._
[monogram: HHolbein] _pinxit_, H. HOLBEIN inv. H. HOLBEIN inventor. On one
of his portraits from the Arundel collection he has placed "[monogram:
HHolbein] _incidit in lignum_." No copy, however, of this portrait has
occurred in wood, and, if this be only a conjecture on the part of the
engraver, the distance of time between the respective artists is an
objection to its validity, though it is possible that Holbein might have
engraved on wood, because there are prints which have all the appearance
of belonging to him, that have his usual mark, accompanied by an engraving
tool. There is no text to these etchings, except the Latin scriptural
passages under each, that occur in the original editions in that language.
As a sort of frontispiece to the work, Hollar has transferred the last cut
of the allegorical shield of arms, supported by a lady and gentleman, to
the beginning, with the appropriate title of MORTALIVM NOBILITAS. The
other subjects are, 1. Adam and Eve in Paradise. 2. Their expulsion from
Paradise. 3. Adam digging, Eve spinning. 4. The Pope. 5. The Emperor. 6.
The Empress. 7. The Queen. 8. The Cardinal. 9. The Duke. 10. The Bishop.
11. The Nobleman. 12. The Abbot. 13. The Abbess. 14. The Friar. 15. The
Nun. 16. The Preacher. 17. The Physician. 18. The Soldier, or Warrior. 19.
The Advocate. 20. The Married Couple. 21. The Duchess. 22. The Merchant.
23. The Pedlar. 24. The Miser. 25. The Waggoner with wine casks. 26. The
Gamesters. 27. The Old Man. 28. The Old Woman. 29. The Infant. Of these,
Nos. 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 14, 23, 27, and 28, correspond with the Lyons
wood-cuts, except that in No. 1 a stag is omitted, and there are some
variations; in No. 6, the windows of the palace are altered; in No. 13, a
window is added to the house next to the nunnery; and in No. 9, a figure
is introduced, and the ducal palace much altered; in No. 23, a sword is
omitted. They are all reverses, except No. 5. The rest of the subjects are
reversed, with one exception, from the copies by [monogram: SA] in the
spurious edition first printed at Cologne in 1555, with occasional very
slight variations. Hollar's copies from the original cuts are in a small
degree less both in width and depth. In the subject of Death and the
Soldier he has not shown his judgment in making use of the spurious
edition rather than the far more elegant and interesting original,[122]
and it is remarkable that this is the only print belonging to the spurious
ones that is not reversed.
It is very probable that Hollar executed this work at Antwerp, where, at
the time of its date, he might have found Diepenbecke and engaged him to
make designs for the borders which are etched on separate plates, thus
supplying passe-par-touts that might be used at discretion. Many sets
appear without the borders, which seem to have strayed, and perhaps to
have been afterwards lost or destroyed. As Rubens is recorded to have
admired the beauty of the original cuts, so it is to be supposed that
Diepenbecke, his pupil, would entertain the same opinion of them, and that
he might have suggested to Hollar the making etchings of them, undertaking
himself to furnish appropriate borders. But how shall we account for the
introduction of so many of the spurious and inferior designs, if he had
the means of using the originals? Many books were formerly excessively
rare, which, from peculiar circumstances, not necessary to be here
detailed, but well known to bibliographers and collectors, have since
become comparatively common. Hollar might not have had an opportunity of
meeting with a perfect copy of the original cuts, or he might, in some way
or other, have been impeded in the use of them, when executing his work,
and thus have been driven to the necessity of pursuing it by means of the
spurious edition. These, however, are but conjectures, and it remains for
every one to adopt his own opinion.
The copper-plates of the above thirty etchings appear to have fallen into
the hands of an English noble family, from which the late Mr. James
Edwards, a bookseller of well merited celebrity, obtained them, and about
the year 1794 caused many impressions to be taken off after they had been
_rebitten_ with great care, so as to prevent that injury, with respect to
outline, which usually takes place where etchings or engravings upon
copper are _retouched_. Previously to this event good impressions must
have been extremely rare, at least on the continent, as they are not found
in the very rich collections of Winckler or Brandes, nor are they
mentioned by the foreign writers on engraving. To Mr. Edwards's
publication of Hollar's prints there was prefixed a short dissertation on
the Dance of Death, which is here again submitted to public attention in a
considerably enlarged form, and corrected from the errors and
imperfections into which its author had been misled by preceding writers
on the subject, and by the paucity of the materials which he was then able
to obtain. This edition was reprinted verbatim, and with the same
etchings, in 1816, for J. Coxhead, in Holywell Street, Strand, but without
any mention of the former, and accompanied with the addition of a brief
memoir of Holbein.
It is most likely that Hollar, having discovered the error which he had
committed in copying the spurious engravings before-mentioned, and
subsequently procured a set of genuine impressions, resolved to make
another set of etchings from the original work, four only of which he
appears to have executed, his death probably taking place before they
could be completed. These are, 1. The Pope crowning the Emperor, with
"Moriatur sacerdos magnus." 2. The rich man disregarding the beggar, with
"Qui obturat aurem suam ad clamorem pauperis, &c." and the four Latin
lines, "Consulitis, dites, &c." at bottom, as in the original. It is
beautifully and most faithfully copied, with [monogram: HHolbein] _inv.
Hollar fecit_. 3. The Ploughman, with "In sudore vultus, &c." 4. The
Robber, with "Domine vim patior."
In Dugdale's History of St. Paul's, and also in the Monasticon, there is a
single etching by Hollar of Death leading all ranks of people. It is only
an improved copy of an old wood-cut in Lydgate's works, already mentioned
in p. 52, and which is altogether imaginary, not being taken from any real
series of the Dance.
VI. "Varii e veri ritratte della morte disegnati in immagini, ed espressi
in Essempii al peccatore duro di cuore, dal padre Gio. Battista Marmi
della compagnia de Giesu." Venetia, 1669, 8vo. It has several engravings,
among which are the following, after the original designs. 1. Queen. 2.
Nobleman. 3. Merchant. 4. Gamblers. 5. Physician. 6. Miser. The last five
being close copies from the same subjects, in the Basle edit. 1769, No. V.
of the copies in wood.
VII. "Theatrum mortis humanae tripartitum. I. Pars. Saltum Mortis. II.
Pars. Varia genera Mortis. III. Pars. Paenas Damnatorum continens, cum
figuris aeneis illustratum." Then the same repeated in German, with the
addition "Durch Joannem Weichardum Valvasor. Lib. Bar. cum facultate
superiorum, et speciali privilegio Sac. Caes. Majest. Gedrucht zu Laybach,
und zu finden ben Johann Baptista Mayr, in Saltzburg. Anno 1682. 4to."
Prefixed is an engraved frontispiece representing a ruined arch, under
which is a coffin, and before it the King of Terrors between two other
figures of Death mounted respectively on an elephant and camel. In the
foreground, Adam and Eve, tied to the forbidden tree of knowledge, between
several other Deaths variously employed. Two men digging graves, &c.
Underneath, "[monogram: W.] inven. [monogram: W.] excud. Jo. Koch del.
And. Trost sculp. Wagenpurgi in Carniola." It is the first part only with
which we are concerned. The artist, with very little exception, has
followed and reversed the spurious wood-cuts of 1555, by [monogram: SA].
To the groups of boys he has added a Death leading them on.
VIII. "De Doodt vermaskert met des werelts ydelheyt afghedaen door
Geeraerdt Van Wolschaten." This is another edition of No. IX. of the
original wood-cuts, here engraved on _copper_. The text is the same as
that of 1654, with the addition of seven leaves, including a cut of Death
leading all ranks of men. In that of the Pedler the artist has introduced
some figures in the distance of the original _soldier_. Among other
variations the costume of the time of William III. is sometimes very
ludicrously adopted, especially in the frontispiece, where the author is
represented writing at a desk, and near him two figures of a man in a full
bottom wig, and a woman with a mask and a perpendicular cap in several
stories, usually called a _Fontange_, both having skeleton faces. At
bottom, the mark [monogram: L B.f.]. This edition was printed at Antwerp
by Jan Baptist Jacobs, without date, but the privilege has that of 1698.
12mo.
IX. "Imagines Mortis, or the Dead Dance of Hans Holbeyn, painter of King
Henry the VIII." This title is on a copper-plate within a border, and
accompanied with nineteen etchings on copper, by Nieuhoff Piccard, a
person who will be more particularly adverted to hereafter. They consist
of, 1. The emblem of Mortality. 2. The temptation. 3. The expulsion from
Paradise. 4. Adam digging, Eve spinning. 5. Concert of Deaths. 6. The
Infant. 7. The new married couple. 8. The Duke. 9. The Advocate. 10. The
Abbot. 11. The Monk. 12. The Abbess. 13. The Soldier. 14. The Merchant.
15. The Pedler. 16. The Fool. 17. The Blind Man. 18. The Old Woman. 19.
The Old Man. The designs, with some occasional variations, correspond with
those in the original wood-cuts. The plates of these etchings must have
passed into the hands of some English printsellers, as broken sets of them
have not long since been seen, one only of which, namely, that of the
Temptation, had these lines on it:
"All that e'er had breath
Must dance after Death."
with the date 1720. Several were then numbered at bottom with Arabic
numerals.
X. "Schau-platz des Todes, oder Todten Tanz, von Sal. Van Rusting Med.
Doct. in Nieder-Teutscher-Spracke nun aber in Hoch Teutscher mit nothigen
Anmerchungen heraus gegeben von Johann Georg. Meintel Hochfurstl
Brandenburg-Onoltzbachischen pfarrer zu Petersaurach." Nurnberg, 1736.
8vo. Or, "The Theatre of Death, or Dance of Death, by Sol. Van Rusting,
doctor of medicine, in Low German language, but now in High German, with
necessary notes by John George Meintel in the service of his Serene
Highness of Brandenburg, and parson of Petersaurach." It is said to have
been originally published in 1707, which is very probable, as Rusting, of
whom very little is recorded, was born about 1650. In the early part of
his life he practised as an army surgeon. He was a great admirer and
follower of the doctrines of Balthasar Bekker in his "Monde enchante."
There are editions in Dutch only, 1735 and 1741. 12mo. the plates being
copies. In the above-mentioned edition by Meintel there is an elaborate
preface, with some account of the Dance of Death, and its editions, but
replete with the grossest errors, into which he has been misled by
Hilscher, and some other writers. His text is accompanied with a profusion
of notes altogether of a pious and moral nature.
Rusting's work consists of thirty neat engravings, of which the following
are copied from the Lyons wood-cuts. 1. The King, much varied. 2. The
Astrologer. 3. The Soldier. 4. The Monk. 5. The Old Man. 6. The Pedler.
The rest are, on the whole, original designs, yet with occasional hints
from the Lyons cuts; the best of them are, the Masquerade, the
Rope-dancer, and the Skaiters. The frontispiece is in two compartments;
the upper one, Death crowned, sitting on a throne, on each side of him a
Death trumpeter; the lower, a fantastic Dance of seven Deaths, near a
crowned skeleton lying on a couch.
XI. "Le triomphe de la Mort." A Basle, 1780, folio. This is the first part
of a collection of the works of Hans Holbein, engraved and published by M.
Chretien de Mechel, a celebrated artist, and formerly a printseller in the
above city. It has a dedication to George III. followed by explanations in
French of the subjects, in number 46, and in the following order; No. 1. A
Frontispiece, representing a tablet of stone, on one side of which Holbein
appears behind a curtain, which is drawn aside by Death in order to
exhibit to him the grand spectacle of the scenes of human life which he is
intended to paint; this is further designated by a heap of the attributes
of greatness, dignities, wealth, arts, and sciences, intermixed with
Deaths' heads, all of which are trampled under foot by Death himself. At
bottom, Lucan's line, "Mors sceptra ligonibus aequat." The tablet is
surmounted by a medallion of Holbein, supported by two genii, one of whom
decorates the portrait with flowers, whilst another lets loose a
butterfly, and a third is employed in blowing bubbles. On the tablet
itself is a second title, "Le triomphe de la mort, grave d'apres les
dessins originaux de Jean Holbein par Chr{n}. de Mechel, graveur a Basle,
MDCCLXXX." This frontispiece has been purposely inverted for the present
work. The other subjects are: No. 2. The Temptation. 3. Expulsion from
Paradise. 4. Adam digging, Eve spinning. 5. The Pope. 6. The Cardinal. 7.
The Duke. 8. The Bishop. 9. The Canon. 10. The Monk. 11. The Abbot. 12.
The Abbess. 13. The Preacher. 14. The Priest. 15. The Physician. 16. The
Astrologer. 17. The Emperor. 18. The King. 19. The Empress. 20. The Queen.
21. The Duchess. 22. The Countess. 23. The New-married Couple. 24. The
Nun. 25. The Nobleman. 26. The Knight. 27. The Gentleman. 28. The Soldier.
29. The Judge. 30. The Counsellor. 31. The Advocate. 32. The Merchant. 33.
The Pedler. 34. The Shipwreck. 35. The Wine-carrier. 36. The Plowman. 37.
The Miser. 38. The Robber. 39. The Drunkard. 40. The Gamblers. 41. The Old
Man. 42. The Old Woman. 45. The Blind Man. 44. The Beggar. 45. The Infant.
46. The Fool.
M. Mechel has added another print on this subject, viz. the sheath of a
dagger, a design for a chaser. It is impossible to exceed the beauty and
skill that are manifested in this fine piece of art. The figures are, a
king, queen, warrior, a young woman, a monk, and an infant, all of whom
most unwillingly accompany Death in the dance. The despair of the king,
the dejection of the queen, accompanied by her little dog, the terror of
the soldier who hears the drum of Death, the struggling of the female, the
reluctance of the monk, and the sorrow of the poor infant, are depicted
with equal spirit and veracity. The original drawing is in the public
library at Basle, and ascribed to Holbein. There is a general agreement
between these engravings and the original wood-cuts. Twenty-three are
reversed. In No. 13 the jaw-bone in the hand of Death is not distinct. In
No. 16 a cross is added, and in No. 17 two heads.
Mr. Coxe, in his Travels in Switzerland, has given some account of the
drawings copied as above by M. de Mechel, in whose possession he saw them.
He states that they were sketched with a pen, and slightly shaded with
Indian ink. He mentions M. de Mechel's conjecture that they were once in
the Arundel collection, and infers from thence that they were copied by
Hollar, which, however, from what has been already stated on the subject
of Hollar's print of the Soldier and Death, as well as from other
variations, could not have been the case. Mr. Coxe proceeds to say that
four of the subjects in M. de Mechel's work are not in the drawings, but
were copied from Hollar. It were to be wished that he had specified them.
The particulars that follow were obtained by the compiler of the present
dissertation from M. de Mechel himself when he was in London. He had not
been able to trace the drawings previously to their falling into the hands
of M. de Crozat,[123] at whose sale, about 1771, they were purchased by
Counsellor Fleischmann of Strasburg, and M. de Mechel having very
emphatically expressed his admiration of them whilst they were in the
possession of M. Fleischmann, that gentleman very generously offered them
as a present to him. M. de Mechel, however, declined the offer, but
requested they might be deposited in the public library at Basle, among
other precious remains of Holbein's art. This arrangement, however, did
not take place, and it happened in the mean time that two nephews of
Prince Gallitzin, minister from Russia to the court of Vienna, having
occasion to visit M. Fleischmann, then much advanced in years, and his
memory much impaired, prevailed on him to concede the drawings to their
uncle, who, on learning from M. de Mechel what had originally passed
between himself and M. Fleischmann, sent the drawings to him, with
permission to engrave and publish them, which was accordingly done, after
they had been detained two years for that purpose. They afterwards passed
into the Emperor of Russia's collection of fine arts at Petersburg.
It were greatly to be wished that some person qualified like Mr. Ottley,
if such a one can be found, would take the trouble to enter on a critical
examination of these drawings in their present state, with a view to
ascertain, as nearly as possible, whether they carry indisputable marks of
Holbein's art and manner of execution, or whether, as may well be
suspected, they are nothing more than copies, either by himself or some
other person, from the original wood engravings.
M. de Mechel had begun this work in 1771, when he had engraved the first
four subjects, including a frontispiece totally different from that in the
volume here described. There are likewise variations in the other three.
He was extremely solicitous that these should be cancelled.
XII. David Deuchar, sometimes called the Scottish Worlidge, who has etched
many prints after Ostade and the Dutch masters, published a set of
etchings by himself, with the following printed title: "The Dances of
Death through the various stages of human life, wherein the capriciousness
of that tyrant is exhibited in forty-six copper-plates, done from the
original designs, which were cut in wood and afterwards painted by John
Holbein in the town house at Basle, to which is prefixed descriptions of
each plate in French and English, with the scripture text from which the
designs were taken. Edinburgh, MDCCLXXXVIII." Before this most inaccurate
title are two engraved leaves, on one of which is Deuchar's portrait, in a
medallion, supported by Adam and Eve holding the forbidden fruit. Over the
medallion, the three Fates, the whole within an arch before a pediment. On
each side, a plain column, supporting a pyramid, &c. On the other leaf a
copy of the engraved title to M. de Mechel's work with the substitution of
Deuchar's name. After the printed title is a portrait, as may be supposed,
of Holbein, within a border containing six ovals of various subjects, and
a short preface or account of that artist, but accompanied with some very
inaccurate statements. The subjects are inclosed, like Hollar's, within
four different borders, separately engraved, three of them borrowed, with
a slight variation in one, from Diepenbeke, the fourth being probably
Deuchar's invention. The etchings of the Dance of Death are forty-six in
number, accompanied with De Mechel's description and English translation.
At the end is the emblematical print of mortality, but not described, with
the dagger sheath, copied from De Mechel. Thirty of these etchings are
immediately copied from Hollar, No. X. having the distance altered. The
rest are taken from the spurious wood copies of the originals by
[monogram: SA] with variation in No. XVIII.; and in No. XXXIX. and XLIII.
Deuchar has introduced winged hour-glasses. These etchings are very
inferior to those by Hollar. The head of Eve in No. III. resembles that of
a periwigged Frenchman of the time of Louis XIV. but many of the subjects
are very superior to others, and intitled to much commendation.
XIII. The last in this list is "Der Todtentanz ein gedicht von Ludwig
Bechstein mit 48 kupfern in treuen Conturen nach H. Holbein. Leipzig.
1831," 12mo.; or, "Death's Dance, a poem by Ludwig Bechstein, with
forty-eight engravings in faithful outlines from H. Holbein." These very
elegant etchings are by Frenzel, inspector of the gallery of engravings
of the King of Saxony at Dresden. The poem, which is an epic one, relates
entirely to the power of Death over mankind.
It is necessary to mention that the artist who made the designs for the
Lyons Dance of Death is not altogether original with respect to a few of
them. Thus, in the subject of Adam digging and Eve spinning, he has partly
copied an ancient wood engraving that occurs in some of the Horae printed
by Francis Regnault at Paris. In the subject of the Queen, and on that of
the Duke and Duchess, he has made some use of those of Death and the Fool,
and Death and the Hermit, in the old Dance at Basle. On the other hand, he
has been imitated, 1. in "La Periere Theatre des bons engins. 1561." 24mo.
where the rich man bribing the judge is introduced at fo. 66. 2. The
figure of the Swiss gentleman in "Recueil de la diversite des habits."
Paris, 1567. 12mo. is copied from the last print in the Lyons book. 3.
From the same print the Death's head has been introduced in an old wood
engraving, that will be more particularly described hereafter. 4.
Brebiette, in a small etching on copper, has copied the Lyons plowman. 5.
Mr. Dance, in his painting of Garrick, has evidently made use of the
gentleman who lifts up his sword against Death. The copies of the portrait
of Francis I. have been already noticed.