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
History
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
An M cut on wood in p. 353 of a Suetonius, edited by Charles Patin, and
printed 1675, 4to. "Basle typis Genathianis." The subject is, Death
seizing Cupid. Size, 1-1/2 square.
A W, 2-1/8 square, engraved on copper, with the initials of Michael
Burghers. A large palm tree in the middle, Death with his scythe
approaches a shepherd sitting on a bank and tending his flock.
In the second volume of Braun and Hogenberg Civitates orbis terrarum, and
prefixed to a complimentary letter from Remaglus Lymburgus, a physician
and canon of Liege, there is an initial letter about an inch and a half
square, representing a pope and an emperor playing at cards. They are
interrupted by Death, who offers them a cup which he holds in his left
hand whilst he points to them with his right. Other figures are
introduced. This letter is very finely engraved on wood.
In Vol. II. p. 118 (misprinted 208) of Steinwich's "Bibliothecæ
Ecclesiasticæ." Colon. Agrip. 1599, folio. There is a single initial
letter V only, which may have been part of an alphabet with a Dance of
Death. The subject is Death and the queen. The size nearly an inch square.
At fo. 1. of "F. Marco de Guadalajara y Xavier, Memorable expulsion y
justissimo destierro de los Moriscos de Espana, Pamplona, 1613, 4to."
there is an initial E, finely drawn and well engraved in wood. The subject
has been taken from two cuts in the Lyons Dance of Death, viz. the
cardinal and the emperor. From the first, the figures of the cardinal and
Death seizing his hat; and from the other, the figures of the kneeling
man, and of Death seizing the emperor's crown, are introduced as a
complete group in the above initial letter. Size, 1-1/2 inch square.
In p. 66 of the same work there is another letter that has probably
belonged to a set of initials with a Dance of Death. It is an H, and
copied from the subject of the bishop taken by Death from his flock, in
the Lyons series. It is engraved in a different and inferior style from
that last mentioned, yet with considerable spirit. Size, 1-1/2 inch.
CHAPTER XVI.
_Paintings.--Drawings.--Miscellaneous._
Rene of Anjou is said to have painted a sort of Death's Dance at Avignon,
which was destroyed in the French revolution.
In one of the wardrobe accounts of Henry VIII. a picture at Westminster is
thus described: "Item, a table with the picture of a woman playing upon a
lute, and an old manne holding a glasse in th' one hande and a deadde
mannes headde in th' other hande." MS. Harl. No. 1419.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account