The Dance of Death: Exhibited in Elegant Engravings on Wood with a Dissertation on the Several Representations of that Subject but More Particularly on Those Ascribed to Macaber and Hans HolbeinDouce, Francis
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The Dance of Death: Exhibited in Elegant Engravings on Wood with a Dissertation on the Several Representations of that Subject but More Particularly on Those Ascribed to Macaber and Hans Holbein
Douce, Francis
Bible. Old Testament -- Illustrations; Dance of death
Two old misers, a man and a woman. He holds a purse, and she weighs the
money. Death behind lies in wait for them. Below, a French stanza,
beginning "Fol en cette nuit on te redemande ton ame," and the same in
Latin. Below, "J. Meheux sculp. A Paris chez Audran rue St. Jaques aux
deux pilliers d'or." An upright mezzotint, 10 by 7-1/2.
An oval engraving in a frame of slips of trees. Death pulling down a fruit
tree; a hand in a cloud cutting a flower with a sickle. Motto, "Fortior
frango, tenera meto." Upright, 6-1/2 by 4.
An anonymous engraving of a lady sitting at her toilet. She starts at the
reflected image of Death standing behind her, in her looking glass. Her
lover stands near her in the act of drawing his sword to repel the
unwelcome visitor. Upright, 7-1/4 by 6-1/2. To some such print or
painting, Hamlet, holding a scull in his hand, evidently alludes in Act v.
Sc. 1. "Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her let her paint an
inch thick, to this favour she must come."
A print of the tree of knowledge, the serpent holding the apple in his
mouth. Below, several animals, as in the usual representations of
Paradise. On one side a youth on horseback with a hawk on his fist; on the
other, Death strikes at him with his dart. On the right, at bottom, the
letters R. P. ex. and these verses:
Nor noble, valiant, youthfull or wise, have
The least exemption from the gloomy grave.
Upright, 6 by 4.
A large oblong engraving, on copper, 22 by 17. On the left, is an arched
cavern, from which issue two Deaths, one of whom holds a string, the end
of which is attached to an owl, placed as a bird decoy, on a pillar in the
middle of the print. Under the string, three men reading. On the left,
near a tree, is a ghastly sitting figure, whose head has been flayed. On
the opposite side below, a musical group of three men and a woman. In the
back-ground, several men caught in a net; near them, Death with a hound
pursuing three persons who are about to be intercepted by a net spread
between two trees. In the distance, a vessel with a Death's head on the
inflated sail. On the top of the arched cavern, a group of seven persons,
one of whom, a female, points to the interior of an urn; near them a
flying angel holding a blank shield of arms. In the middle of the print,
at bottom, some inscription has been erased.
A print, intitled "Cursus Mundi." A woman holds, in one hand, a broken
vessel with live coals; in the other, a lamp, at which a little boy is
about to light a candle. Death appears on the left. At bottom, a Latin
inscription stating that the picture was painted by William Panneels, the
scholar of Rubens, in 1631, and that it is in the palace of Anselm
Casimir, archbishop of Mentz. Upright, 9-1/2 by 6-1/2.
A small anonymous engraving of Death sitting on a large fractured
bass-viol, near which, on the ground, is a broken violin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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