PREFACE.

The Work here presented to the Reader is a Copy, with a small Variation noticed hereafter, as to the Cuts, and a Translation, as to the Letter Press, of one well known to the Curious by the Title ofImagines Mortis, orThe Images of Death; which is reported to be in reality indebted for its Existence to an Event thatBoccacedid but feign as the Occasion of writing hisDecameron; I mean the Calamity of a Plague: And its History is as follows.

PopeEugenius IV.having summoned a Council to meet at the City of Basle, or, as it is more usually called, Basil, in Switzerland; it accordingly met there in the Year 1431, and continued to sit for Seventeen Years, Nine Months, and Twenty-Seven Days, or, according to Mr.Walpole[1], but Fifteen Years in the whole; and at this Council the Pope himself, and after his Death his SuccessorFelix V. SigismondEmperor of Germany,Albert II.then King of the Romans, and many other Princes and Persons of distinguished Rank were present. During the Sitting of this Council, viz. in the Year 1439, the City of Basil was visited with a Plague, which raged for some Time with extreme Violence, and carried off many of the Nobility, and several Cardinals and Prelates who attended that Council, some of whom were interred in the very Cemetery where the Painting, of which we are about to speak, now is; and, on the Cessation of the Distemper, the surviving Members of the Council, with a View to perpetuate the Memory of this Event, and of their providential Deliverance from its Effects, caused to be painted in Oil on the Walls of the Cemetery, near the Convent of the Dominicans, aDance of Death, representing all Ranks of Persons, from the Pope to the Peasant, as individually seized by Death; adding also to each Figure eight Lines in German, four of them containing an Address from Death to them severally, the other four their Reply. The Name of the Painter employed on this Occasion has not been transmitted down to us with Certainty; but some Persons have imagined that this Painting was the Work ofHans Holbein: Whether it were done by him or another, shall be hereafter considered; but, in the mean Time,we shall here proceed to relate the subsequent History of the Painting itself.

It is, however, to be observed, thatMatthew Merian, who, in 1649, published in German, at Franckfort, in small Quarto, a Book entitledTodten Tanz, orDeath’s Dance, containing Engravings from the above-mentioned Painting[2], and from the Preface to whose Work, as translated into French, in an Edition printed at Basil in 1744, most of the foregoing Facts are extracted, does not speak in positive Terms as to the precise Time when the original Figures were painted, but only says, that they are believed, and with great Probability, to be of that Time in which he had placed them; in further Confirmation of which he has noticed, thatSigismondwashimself a Lover and extraordinary Patron of the Arts, and had always about him a Number of Artists; and thatJohn ab Eyck, the Inventor of Oil Painting, flourished in his Reign; but Mr.Warton[3]has related (though it does not appear on what Authority) not only thatHolbeinwas the Painter, but that the Subject in Question was painted in 1543; in which I conceive him misinformed: ForMerianwas, as he himself tells us, a Native of Basil, and possibly might have had his Account by Tradition; and, had the Painting been of no earlier a Date than 1543, it is hardly probable (considering too that it is in Oil) that it should have been so much injured by Time as to stand in Need, as we find it did, of an almost total Repair in 1568: To all which I add, thatMerianseems so well satisfied of the Truth of his Account, that he tells us further that the Figures were drawn from Nature, and are dressed each in the Habit of the Time; and that those of the Pope, Emperor, and King, are respectively Portraits ofFelix V.who succeededEugenius IV.,SigismondEmperor of Germany, andAlbert II., King of the Romans; all of whom, as we have before remarked, were present at the Council.

Mr.Walpole[4]mentions that this Painting was repaired in 1529; but in this he seems to have been misled (accidentally taking one Date instead of another) by a Passage in the Preface toMerian’s Book before cited.Merianinforms us, that the Painting in Question having been much injured by Time,John Hugh Klauber, a Painter, and Citizen of Basil, was, in 1568, employed to repair it; and that, finding a Vacancy on the Wall sufficient for his Purpose, he added at the Head of the Painting a Portrait ofJohannes Oecolompadius, in Memory of the Reformation in 1529, to which his preaching the Gospel to all Ranks, as he did, might be supposed in some small Degree to contribute; and, at the End of the Painting, on another Part of the Wall, he added the Portraits of himself, his Wife, and his Children: And this Repair byKlauber,Meriantells us further, was commemorated in a Latin Tablet, which in his Time hung near the Painting. Some Time after, it was again repaired, and so, without any further Repair, it continued tillMerian’s Time; butKeysler, who visited it in 1729, in hisTravels, Vol. I. P. 171, Edit. 8vo. 1760, relates, that the original Colours were then totally effaced, that only the Outlines of the Figureswere left, and that it had then been lately repaired.

The Thought of this allegorical Representation of Death, though in the present Instance immediately suggested by the Event above related, was not in itself original, but borrowed in some Measure from a Kind of Masquerade, which Mr.Warton[5]observes was anciently celebrated in the Churches abroad, particularly those of France (and, among others, it seems to have been performed in St. Innocent’s Church at Paris) and in which all Ranks and Degrees of Persons were personated by the Ecclesiastics of those Churches, who all danced together, and then disappeared; and it is certain that before the Calamity above-mentioned happened at Basil, and consequently before this Painting there was begun, Allusions to aDance of Deathoccurred in the Writings of the Authors of the Time, in Reference, no Doubt, to that Kind of Masquerade. It were needless to introduce a Number of Quotations to support this Assertion; but as some Proof may, perhaps, be expected, I here insert fromThe Vision ofPiers Plowman, written about 1350, the following Passage, with which Mr.Warton’sHist. of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54, has furnished me:

“Death came driving after, and all to Dust pash’dKings and Cæsars, Knights and Popes.”

“Death came driving after, and all to Dust pash’d

Kings and Cæsars, Knights and Popes.”

And I further find that, several Years prior to the Breaking out of this Plague at Basil, the Idea had even been carried into Execution; for that in 1384, aDeath’s Dancehad been painted at Minden, in Westphalia[6]: But, no sooner had this Painting at Basil been finished, and become, as it very soon after did, universally celebrated all over Europe, but theDance of Deathbecame a very favourite Subject, and was frequently painted in public Buildings. The earliest Instance which has yet occurred, subsequent to the Painting at Basil, is one which Mr.Warton[7]mentions at Lubec, in the Portico of St. Mary’s Church, painted in 1463; and of which Dr.Nugent, in hisTravels, Vol. I. P. 102, speaking of Lubec, gives the following Account:

“But the most noted Thing in St. Mary’s Church is the Painting calledDeath’s Dance, so much talked of in all Parts of Germany. It was originally drawn in 1463, but the Figures were repaired at different Times, as in 1588, 1642, and last of all in 1701. Here you see the Representation of Death leading an Emperor in his imperial Robes, who with his other Handtakes hold of such another Figure, which leads up a King; and so alternately a Figure of Death and a human Person through all Conditions and Stages of Life. The Intention of the Artist was to shew that Death pays no Regard to Age or Condition, which is more particularly expressed in the Verses underneath. They were composed at first in Plat Deutch, or Low Dutch; but at the last Repair, in 1701, it was thought proper to change them for German Verses, which were written byNathaniel Schlott, of Dantzick.” Of these Verses Dr.Nugenthas inserted a Translation from the original German, by a Lady of Dantzick, from which it appears that the Originals consist of, first, an Apostrophe of Death to all, and then an Address of Death to one Individual; then follows his Reply; after that, Death’s Address to another; next, his Reply; and so on. It further appears from the Translation, that the Characters delineated in the Painting are the following: The Pope, Emperor, Empress, Cardinal, King, Bishop, General, Abbé, Knight, Carthusian, Burgomaster, Prebendary, Nobleman, Physician, Usurer, Chaplain, Steward, Church-Warden, Tradesman, Recluse, Peasant, Young Man, Maiden, Infant, Dancing-Master, and Fencing-Master.

In Addition to this Instance we learn, that, in the Reign of Henry the Sixth, oneJenken Carpentercaused to be painted at his Expence on the Walls of the Cloister of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London[8], theDance ofMachabray, orDance of Death[9]; and it is more than probablethat the celebrated Painting of the same Kind in St. Innocent’s Church, in Paris, in like Manner owes its Original to the Painting at Basil.

Nor are these the only Instances in which this Subject has been chosen for the Decoration of Buildings; for in 1525 it was painted at Annaberg, and in 1534, in the Castle or Palace at Dresden; as it also was, though when is unknown, at Leipsic and other Places[10].

The same Inclination in Favour of this Subject began also, very soon after the Painting in Question was known, to discover itself in literary Publications, and in the Decorations and Ornaments of Books. OneMacaber, a French or German Poet, but of what Æra is uncertain, wrote in German a Poem on the Subject ofDeath’s Dance, which, in Consequence of this Circumstance, is not seldom from him calledThe Dance ofMacaber[11].His Verses were translated into French, and written round the Cloister of St. Innocent’s, at Paris, under, as I conceive, the before-mentioned Painting; and from this French Translation,Lydgate, at the Request of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s[12], made a Version, which was afterwards inscribed on the Walls of their Church, under the Painting of the same Subject.

It would be an endless Task, and afford but little Entertainment to the Reader, to reckon up here a long List of Books in which the Subject has been reiterated: We shall therefore content ourselves with mentioning that it appeared in the Chronicle ofHartmannus Schedelius, printed at Nuremberg in 1493, Folio[13], usually called the Nuremberg Chronicle; in the Quotidian Offices of the Church, printed at Paris, 1515, in 8vo[14]; in several Horæ, Missals, &c. and even so late as inA Book of Christian Prayers, collected out of the ancient Writers and best learned of our Time, first printed in 4to. 1569, and afterwards in the same Size in 1608; and that, in Addition to all these and others which might be mentioned, the Painting at Basil was the Cause of the Publication of theImagines Mortis, from which the present is copied and translated, and of which therefore it will be necessary here to give an Account; first observing, that the Excellence of the Cuts in the Original, which are here also copied with sufficient Fidelity, has induced an Opinion that they were the Work ofHolbein, a Fact which we mean hereafter to inquire into.

Papillon, in hisTraité historique et pratique de la Gravure en Bois, 8vo. 1766, Tom. I. P. 166,informs us, thatHolbein, having arrived to a great Degree of Perfection in Painting, was employed by a Magistrate of Basil to paint aDance of Deathin the Fish-Market of that City, near a Cemetery (by which he undoubtedly means the Painting at Basil, of which we have so often had Occasion to speak); that this Work added much to his Reputation; after which he employed his Skill in reducing the original Figures into a small Size; and that he afterwards engraved them upon Wood, with a Delicacy and Beauty not to be equalled. But unfortunatelyPapillonhere speaks without sufficient Attention; for the Painting at Basil, as may be learnt fromMerian’s Engravings before mentioned, and on the Accuracy of which I am assured by an ingenious Friend, who lately examined them with the Originals, I may rely, consists of single Figures, each led by a Figure of Death, and following each other in order, so as to form a long Procession: The same may be remarked of the Painting at St.Paul’s; and, for aught that appears to the contrary, of that at Lubec, and of that at St. Innocent’s Church at Paris, and probably of all the others which we have noticed above: Whereas the present Cuts consist of separate Compartments, each containing Groupes of Figures, so that the present Work is by no means merely a Reduction in Size of the Painting at Basil, but is rather to be considered as founded onthe same Idea, and suggested by the Original, than as a Copy from it.

The earliest Edition of theImagines Mortiswhich I have as yet seen, is one printed, as appears from the Colophon at the End, byMelchiorandGaspar Trechsel, in small 4to. at Lyons, in 1538: It is in French, and its Title is as follows: “Les Simulachres & Historiees faces de la Mort, autant elegamment pourtraictes, que artificiellement imaginees: A Lyons, soulz l’Escu de Cologne.” ButPapillon,in Loco supra cit, tells us, that the Cuts to theImagines Mortismust have been done about the Year 1530, for that the four first of them occur amongHolbein’s Cuts to the Old Testament, printed in 1539; and that it is apparent from those among the Scripture Cuts, that the Blocks had then already furnished many Thousands of Impressions. That the four first Cuts of theImagines Mortisare among the Scripture Cuts ofHolbein, is certainly true; but I think I once saw, in the Hands of a Friend, a Copy of the vulgate Latin Bible, in which those Scripture Cuts were inserted, and which, if my Memory does not greatly deceive me, was printed so early as in or about 1518 or 1520.

The same Author further relates, that the first Edition, which he thinks for the above Reasonsshould be placed in the Year 1530, was printed at Basil, or Zuric, with a Title to each Cut, and, as he believes, some Verses under each, all in the German Language (but, that there was an early Edition in Flemish); and adds, that the Book, having passed over into France, was much sought after by the Curious there; so that a Printer of Lyons was induced to purchase the Blocks, and that from them he printed several Editions in Latin, French, and Italian.

Having thus accounted for the Existence of the Book, and for its Arrival in France, it remains to speak of the several Impressions which it there underwent. We have already mentioned one, the earliest which we know of, printed in small Quarto, at Lyons,soulz l’Escu de Cologne, byMelchiorandGaspar Trechsel, in 1538: The Cuts in this Edition are forty-three in Number, and no more; and over each is, in Latin, a Passage from either the Old or New Testament or Apocrypha, which, in the present Publication, is given in English, from the Translation of the Bible now in use. Under the Cuts are four Lines in French Verse, the Substance of which has been preserved in all the Editions, whether they were in Latin, French, or Italian. This Edition, in order to make it of a tolerable Size (for the Cuts alone would have been too few to constitute a Volume) is accompaniedwith several Tracts in French, which, as not relating to, or connected with, our present Subject, we here forbear to enumerate; but it is necessary, before we close our Account of this Edition of 1538, to remark, that it is preceded by a Dedication in French, to the very Reverend Abbess of the Religious Convent of St.Peterof Lyons, MadamJehanne de Touszele; and in this Dedication the Author of it notices, that the Name and Surname (or, as we term them, the Christian and Surname) of the Abbess and himself are precisely the same in sound, excepting only the Letter T, from which I conjecture (for his Name does not any where appear) that his Name wasJean, or, as it was anciently written,Jehan[i. e.John]de Ouszell, orOzell, as it is now usually spelt. In this Dedication is also a Passage, a Translation of which will be given hereafter, from which it appears that the Person by whom the Cuts were designed, was then dead, leaving behind him several others of the same Kind, which, though drawn, were unfinished, and particularly one representing a Waggoner crushed under his overthrown Waggon; in which Cut, a Figure of Death is represented secretly sucking through a Reed, the Wine out of a Cask; and that to these unfinished Cuts no one had dared to put the last Hand.

The next Edition, in Point of Time, which Ihave seen, I conceive to have been the first that appeared in Latin, and it was printed in Duodecimo, at Lyons,sub scuto Coloniensi, byJohnandFrancis Frellon, in 1542. It contains the same Number of Cuts (and no more) as that of 1538, and is entitled, “Imagines de Morte, et Epigrammata e Gallico idiomate a Georgio Æmylio in Latinum translata;” from whence it appears that it is, in Fact, a Translation of the French Edition of 1538. This also contains some additional Tracts, all differing from those in the Edition of 1538, but not in the least relating to the present Inquiry, and therefore not here particularized, though they have been continued through almost all the subsequent Impressions, and have been given respectively in French, Latin, and Italian, according as the Verses under the Cuts to theImagines Mortiswere in one or other of those Languages.

In 1547, another Edition was published of this Book, in French; it was entitled, “Les Images de la Mort,” and printed at Lyons,A l’Escu de Cologne, ChezJehan Frellon; the Title-Page also informs us that twelve Cuts are added to it, and on Examination we find that the Cuts inserted in Page 40, and the seven subsequent Pages of this Work, and four Cuts of Boys, which, as not relating to this Subject, are in the present Edition omitted (none of which occurin either the French Edition of 1538, or the Latin one of 1542, the only two prior Editions that I know of) are to be found in this of 1547[15].

In the same Year, viz. 1547, but whether prior or subsequent to the last above mentioned, cannot be known, another Latin Edition appeared, printed at Lyons by the sameJohn Frellon, and containing the same increased Number of Cuts as the French one of the same Year, that is to say, fifty-three in all; and the sameJohn Frellon, in 1549, printed an Edition of this Work in Italian and Latin, the Passages from Scripture over the Cuts being in Latin, and the Verses under the Cuts in Italian; and this also contains the same Number of Cuts with the two last-mentioned Editions: ButPapillon, P. 169, remarks that the Blocks, when this Edition of 1549 was printed, had already furnished more than an hundred-thousand Impressions, for that in some Places they appear to be worn.

In 1562, the sameJohn Frellonpublished another French Edition, which appears, by the Printer’s Colophon at the End, to have been printed at Lyons bySymphorien Barbier, and which professes in the Title to be augmentedwith seventeen Plates.Papillon, P. 182, mentions both this Edition and Peculiarity, but denies the Truth of the Assertion, because he tells us, that in this French Edition he finds but five more Cuts than in the Italian One of 1549; notwithstanding which, it is certainly true, as will be presently proved.Papillonadmits that the Edition of 1562 contains five Cuts more than that of 1549, and, if he had gone farther back in his Research, would have found that that of 1549 (and so do the French and Latin Editions of 1547) comprizes twelve more than that of 1538, and that those twelve were first added to the French and Latin Editions of 1547. The Edition of 1562 does not assert that that contains seventeen Cuts more than any preceding Edition, but, reckoning the five which it has more than the Impression of 1549, and the twelve which that has more than the Edition of 1538, and which are also inserted in that of 1562, they make together seventeen Cuts more than were in the Edition of 1538, and consequently justify the Assertion in the Title, that the Edition of 1562 contains seventeen additional Cuts.

The Success which such a Number of Editions seems to imply, induced a Bookseller of Cologne to counterfeit the Book; and, instead of making use of the original Cuts, which, in all Probability he could not procure, he got Copies,and not very exact ones, engraven from them for his intended Edition. When the first counterfeited Edition appeared, I am not informed; but am induced to think that this Person, whom I have above described as a Bookseller of Cologne, wasArnold Birckman, as I find an Edition, printed in 1555, at Cologne,Apud hœredesArnoldi Birckmanni. In this Edition, and also in one printed by the same Persons in 1573, the Cuts are reversed, the Passages from Scripture over the Cuts, and also the Verses under the Cuts, are in Latin; and both these Editions contain the Number of Cuts in the Latin and French ones of 1547, and no more: In the Cut inserted P. 17, of the present Edition, is the following MarkSA(intended, no doubt, for that of the Engraver) and which was that ofSilvius Antonianus, an Artist of considerable Merit.

Having thus given the History of this celebrated Work, we are now to inquire, in the first Place, whether the original Painting at Basil were, or not, painted byHolbein; and, in the second, whether theImagines Mortiswere either designed or engraven by him.

As to the first of these Questions it is to be observed, thatMerian, whom we have above mentioned, has related that this Picture at Basil was painted during the sitting of the Councilbefore mentioned, which met in 1431, and sat either fifteen, according to some, or something more than seventeen Years, according to other Authors; so that the Painting now under Consideration must have been done between the Years 1439, when the Plague broke out, and 1446, or 1448, when the Council broke up; now it is certain thatHolbeinwas not born till 1498[16]: nor do we find that he was ever employed on the Painting at Basil, even so much as to retouch it.Hugh Klauber, who repaired it in 1568, is recorded, and it is not probable that, if it ever had been touched upon byHolbein, that Fact should, in his own native City, have been passed over in Silence: On the contrary, it is more likely that an Opportunity should have been rather sought to reveal it[17].

From these Considerations it appears pretty evidently, thatHolbeinhas no Claim to the Painting at Basil: We now proceed, therefore, to the second Inquiry, viz. Whether he either designed or engraved the original Cuts to theImagines Mortis, and here it may first be necessary to state what Reasons there may be for supposing them his.

Nicolas Borbonius, a Poet contemporary withHolbein, has addressed to him an Epigram “De Morte picta, a Hanso Pictore nobili[18],” from which it is inferred that he painted aDance of Death; andSandrartrelates that in the Year 1627, in a Conversation withRubens, at which he was present, theImagines Mortiswas stiledHolbein’s, as will appear from the following Passage, translated by Mr.WartonfromJoach. Sandrart,Academ. Pict.Part II. Lib. iii. Cap. 7. P. 241, “I also well remember that in the Year 1627, whenPaul Rubenscame to Utrecht to visitHandorst, being escorted both coming from, and returning to Amsterdam, by several Artists; as we were in the Boat, the Conversation fell uponHolbein’s Book of Cuts representing theDance of Death, thatRubensgave them the highest Encomiums, advising me, who was then a young Man, to set the highest Value upon them; informing me, at the same Time, that he, in his Youth, had copied them.”Warton’sObservations onSpenser, first Edit. P.231, in a Note, where is also inserted a Translation from the same Work, P. 238, in the following Words, “But, in the Fish-Market there” [at Basil] “may be seen his” [Holbein’s] “admirableDance of Peasants, where also, in the same public Manner, is shewn hisDance of Death; where, by a Variety of Figures, it is demonstrated that Death spares neither Popes, Emperors, Princes, &c. as may be seen in his most elegant wooden Cuts of the same Work.”

InBullart’sAcademie des Sciences, Tom. II. P. 412, is a Passage, of which the following is a Translation: “Nevertheless, he” [Holbein] “has not sent any Thing into the World which is not painted with the last Degree of Perfection. The Inhabitants of Basil have an excellent Witness of this in their Town-House: It is his Piece of theDance of Death, which he has reduced into Colours, after having engraven them very neatly on Wood; and which appeared so excellent to the learnedErasmus, that, after having published his Praises, he invitedHolbeinto draw his Picture, in order that he might have the Happiness of being represented by so skilful a Hand.”

Mons.Patin, in the Catalogue ofHolbein’s Works, prefixed to his Edition ofErasmus’sPraise of Folly, in Latin, closes his Listwith Words to the following Effect, “He also engraved several Things upon Wood, among which are hisScripture Cuts, andDance of Death, vulgarly calledToden Tans; from which that Picture is not very different, which was painted from the Life by the Hand, as some think, ofHolbeinhimself, and is enclosed by wooden Pallisadoes from Strangers in the Cemetery of the Predicants, in the Suburbs of St.John, at Basil:” AndPriortakes it for so acknowledged a Fact thatHolbeinpainted the well-knownDance of Death, that, in hisOde to the Memory of ColonelGeorge Villiers, he thus alludes to it:

“In vain we think that free-will’d Man has Pow’rTo hasten or protract th’ appointed Hour.Our Term of Life depends not on our Deed;Before our Birth, our Fun’ral was decreed.Nor aw’d by Foresight, nor misled by Chance,Imperious Death directs the Ebon Lance,Peoples greatHenry’s Tombs, and leads upHolbein’s Dance.”

“In vain we think that free-will’d Man has Pow’r

To hasten or protract th’ appointed Hour.

Our Term of Life depends not on our Deed;

Before our Birth, our Fun’ral was decreed.

Nor aw’d by Foresight, nor misled by Chance,

Imperious Death directs the Ebon Lance,

Peoples greatHenry’s Tombs, and leads upHolbein’s Dance.”

By “greatHenry’s Tombs,”Henrythe Seventh’s Chapel in Westminster-Abbey is meant.

To refute by minute Examination the several Errors in the above Citations, would be an almost endless Task; it is sufficient here to remark, that the Passage fromBorboniusis too general toascertain, whether he means aDance of Death, or a single Figure; thatSandrartorRubens’s Declaration is too far distant from the Time, to be of any great Weight; as is alsoPatin’s Assertion, thatHolbeinactually engraved theImagines Mortis: And surely, if it had been either designed or engraven by him,Frellon, for whom so many Editions were printed, would not have failed to have mentioned it in some of them, when we find, that in the Editions of theScripture Cuts, which he printed, he has inserted a Latin Poem of some Length, and also a Greek Epigram, both byBorbonius, with a Translation of this latter into Latin, all to prove, that the Cuts were the Work ofHolbein. It is further to be observed (as one Reason for ascribing these Cuts toHolbein) that a Cut of theImagines Mortis, which occurs P. 36 of this Edition, but the Mark is there purposely omitted, has to it in the original the Letters H L thus conjoinedHLwhichPapillonasserts, is one of the Marks ofHolbein; andChristian de Mechel, Engraver to the Elector Palatine, seems so well convinced of their being really at least designed byHolbein, that he has inserted theDance of Death, as represented in theImagines Mortis, among the rest of his Works, which he is now publishing; but the Number of Cuts there given, is no more than Forty-Six.

It were much to be wished thatMechelhadinformed us, from what he had copied theDance of Death; whether, as he probably did, from Drawings; and, if so, where those Drawings were to be found, and on what further Evidence he had ventured to ascribe them toHolbein; for, as will presently appear, there is very great Reason, at least, for doubting the Fact, notwithstanding that the four first Cuts of theImagines Mortisoccur among the Cuts to the Old Testament, printed in 1539, and which we are told expressly in a Poem, and also in an Epigram, ofBorbonius, prefixed to them, are of the Hand ofHolbein; but whether by this we are to understand, that he designed or engraved them, or both, we are left to seek. After having thus ventured to question in general Terms,Holbein’s Title to the Merit of this Work, it is incumbent on me to shew on what my Doubts are founded, and this I am prepared to do; for, in the Dedication to the Edition of theImagines Mortis, in 1538, is a Passage, of which I here insert a faithful Translation:

“To return then to ourCuts of Death, we now very justly regret the Death of him who has here designed such elegant Figures, exceeding as much all the Examples hitherto, as the Paintings ofApelles, or ofZeuxis, exceed the Moderns. For his sorrowful Histories, with their Descriptions severely verified, excite such Admiration in the Beholders,that they think the Figures of Death appear as if quite alive, and the Living as if dead. Which makes me think that Death, fearing that this excellent Painter would paint him so much alive, that he should no longer be feared as Death, and that, for this Reason, he himself would become immortal; for this very Cause hastened so much his Days, that he could not finish several other Cuts already by him traced, and among others that of the Waggoner overthrown and bruised under his overturned Waggon; the Wheels and Horses of which are there represented so frightfully, that as much Horror is occasioned to view their Downfall, as Delight to contemplate the Liquorishness of one Figure of Death, who is secretly sucking through a Reed the Wine from the emptied Cask: To which imperfect Histories, as well as to the inimitable Rainbow, no one has dared to put the last Hand.”

This Dedication is prefixed to the Edition of 1538, and speaks of the Designer (by which, I conceive, we must understand both Painter and Engraver, for it speaks of the Drawings of the unfinished ones as having been then already traced or drawn; and, if so, they might surely have been finished by the Engraver of the former ones) as then lately dead; now it is well known thatHolbeindid not die till 1554[19], and thereforeit could not be he: And I would further observe, that the MarkHLis not peculiar toHolbein.Strutt, in hisBiographical Dictionary of Engravers, Vol. II. P. 86, attributes it to oneHans Lederer, of whom he gives no Particulars; and theCatalogue of Marks and Cyphers of Engravers, P. 21. Edit. 1730, mentions oneLambrecht Hopfer, a German, but the Age in which he lived is not noticed, who used, as his Mark, sometimes a Vase of Flowers in the Midst of the Letters L H, and sometimes the perpendicular Stroke of the L in the second Stroke of the H, which is exactly as it appears in the Cut before referred to.

I have only to add, that the Cuts in the present Edition, excepting only the first (which, representing in the Original the Deity in the Habit of the Pope, to avoid giving Offence, it was thought proper to omit, and to substitute in its Room one designed for the Purpose) are engraven, and the Verses under them translated, from the Latin Edition of 1547; and that the additional Cuts, which appeared in the French Edition of 1562 (with the Omission only of four of Boys, as being foreign to this Subject) are here also inserted, and the Verses under them translated from the French.

The EDITOR.

March 24, 1789.

FOOTNOTES[1]Anecdotes of Painting, 8vo. Vol. I. P. 123.[2]As it may afford the Reader some Satisfaction to be informed particularly what Characters are represented in this Painting, we here give a List of them fromMerian’s Engravings mentioned in the Text: At the Beginning is a Cut ofOecolompadiuspreaching; next follows one of a Charnel-House, and two Figures of Death piping; after which, in distinct Cuts, are given the Pope, Emperor, Empress, King, Queen, Cardinal, Bishop, Duke, Duchess, Count, Abbot, Knight, Lawyer, Magistrate, Canon, Physician, Gentleman, Lady, Merchant, Abbess, Cripple, Hermit, Young Man, Usurer, Maiden, Musician, Herald, Mayor, Grand Provost, Buffoon, Pedlar, Blind Man, Jew, Pagan, Female Pagan, Cook, Peasant, Painter, Painter’s Wife.[3]History of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54, in a Note.[4]Anecdotes of Painting, 8vo. Vol. I. P. 123.[5]History of Poetry, Vol. I. P. 210.[6]Warton’sHist. of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54.[7]Ibid.[8]Formerly called Pardon Church-Yard, about which, saysWeever,Ancient Funeral Monuments, 4to Edition, 1767, P. 168, “was artificially and richly painted, theDance of Deathcommonly called theDance of Paul’s; the Picture of Death leading all Estates.”The aboveJenken Carpenterwas Executor to SirRichard Whittington, and had a Licence granted him, Anno 1430, 8 Hen. VI. to establish upon the Charnel-House of St. Paul’s a Chaplain, to have eight Marks a Year.Weever,ubi supra.[9]Stow’s Survey of London, Edit. 4to. 1618, P. 616. An Engraving of it is inserted inDugdale’s Hist. of St. Paul’s, Edit. 1658, P. 290, and under it are givenLydgate’s Verses, which he observes at the End he had translated,“Not Word by Word, but following in Substance.”The Characters, as may be collected from the Titles to the Verses, are the Pope, Emperor, Cardinal, King, Patriarch, Constable, Archbishop, Baron, Princess, Bishop, Squire, Abbot, Abbess, Bailiff, Astronomer, Burgess, Canon Secular, Merchant, Chartreux, Serjeant, Monk, Usurer, Physician, Amorous Squire, Gentlewoman, Man of Law, Mr.John RekillTregetour, [i. e.Jugler. See the Glossary toUrry’sChaucer, Art.Treget] Parson, Juror, Minstrel, Labourer, Friar Minor, Child, Young Clerk, Hermit, the King eaten of Worms,Machabreethe Doctor.—Dugdale, P. 132, says thatCarpenterwas a Citizen of London, and that the Painting at St. Paul’s was in Imitation of that in the Cloister adjoining to St. Innocent’s Church-Yard, in Paris.[10]Warton’sHistory of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54.[11]Mr.Warton, in hisObservations onSpenser, first Edit. P. 230, in a Note, says, thatMacaberwrote a Description in Verse of a Procession, painted on the Walls of St. Innocent’s Cloister, at Paris, called theDance of Death; so that in this Passage Mr.Wartonmust be supposed to understand thatMacaber’s Verses were written posterior to that Painting. He further informs us, in the Additions and Corrections to the second Volume of hisHistory of Poetry, that the earliest complete French Translation of these Verses was printed in 1499, but that a less perfect Edition had been before published in 1486, and that the French Rhymes in this last are said to be byMichel Marot. A Copy in French ofLa grande Danse deMacabredes Hommes et des Femmes, printed in 4to. at Troyes, forJohn Garnier, but without a Date, I have seen; and find from the Verses under each Cut, that the Characters are the Pope, Emperor, Cardinal, King, Legate, Duke, Patriarch, Constable, Archbishop, Knight, Bishop, Squire, Abbot, Bailiff, Astrologer, Burgess, Canon, Merchant, School-Master, Man of Arms, Chartreux, Serjeant, Monk, Usurer, Physician, Lover, Advocate, Minstrel, Curate, Labourer, Proctor, Gaoler, Pilgrim, Shepherd, Cordelier, Child, Clerk, Hermit, Adventurer, Fool. The Women are the Queen, Duchess, Regent’s Wife, Knight’s Wife, Abbess, Squire’s Wife, Shepherdess, Cripple, Burgess’s Wife, Widow, Merchant’s Wife, Bailiff’s Wife, Young Wife, Dainty Dame, Female Philosopher, New-married Wife, Woman with Child, Old Maid, Female Cordelier, Chambermaid, Intelligence-Woman, Hostess, Nurse, Prioress, Damsel, Country Girl, Old Chambermaid, Huckstress, Strumpet, Nurse for Lying-in Women, Young Girl, Religious, Sorceress, Bigot, Fool.[12]Warton’sHist. of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 53.[13]Warton’sHistory of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54.[14]Ibid.[15]It cannot be doubted that these additional Cuts are those mentioned in the Dedication to the Edition of 1538, as being then left unfinished, for, among them, is the Cut of the Waggoner there particularly described.[16]Walpole’sAnecdotes of Painting, Vol. I. P. 123.[17]Keysler, in his Travels before referred to, Vol. I. P. 171, speaking of theDance of Death, at Basil, says, it is generally reputed to have been painted byHolbein, who had also drawn and painted aDeath’s Dance, and had likewise painted, as it were, a Duplicate of this Piece on another House, but which Time has entirely obliterated. “However,” adds he, “for several Reasons theDeath’s Dancenear the French Church may be presumed not to beHolbein’s, but the Work of another Artist whose Name wasBock.”[18]Warton’sObservations onSpenser, Vol. II. P. 117, in the Note.[19]Walpole’sAnecdotes of Painting, Vol. I. P. 115.

[1]Anecdotes of Painting, 8vo. Vol. I. P. 123.

[2]As it may afford the Reader some Satisfaction to be informed particularly what Characters are represented in this Painting, we here give a List of them fromMerian’s Engravings mentioned in the Text: At the Beginning is a Cut ofOecolompadiuspreaching; next follows one of a Charnel-House, and two Figures of Death piping; after which, in distinct Cuts, are given the Pope, Emperor, Empress, King, Queen, Cardinal, Bishop, Duke, Duchess, Count, Abbot, Knight, Lawyer, Magistrate, Canon, Physician, Gentleman, Lady, Merchant, Abbess, Cripple, Hermit, Young Man, Usurer, Maiden, Musician, Herald, Mayor, Grand Provost, Buffoon, Pedlar, Blind Man, Jew, Pagan, Female Pagan, Cook, Peasant, Painter, Painter’s Wife.

[3]History of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54, in a Note.

[4]Anecdotes of Painting, 8vo. Vol. I. P. 123.

[5]History of Poetry, Vol. I. P. 210.

[6]Warton’sHist. of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54.

[7]Ibid.

[8]Formerly called Pardon Church-Yard, about which, saysWeever,Ancient Funeral Monuments, 4to Edition, 1767, P. 168, “was artificially and richly painted, theDance of Deathcommonly called theDance of Paul’s; the Picture of Death leading all Estates.”The aboveJenken Carpenterwas Executor to SirRichard Whittington, and had a Licence granted him, Anno 1430, 8 Hen. VI. to establish upon the Charnel-House of St. Paul’s a Chaplain, to have eight Marks a Year.Weever,ubi supra.

The aboveJenken Carpenterwas Executor to SirRichard Whittington, and had a Licence granted him, Anno 1430, 8 Hen. VI. to establish upon the Charnel-House of St. Paul’s a Chaplain, to have eight Marks a Year.

Weever,ubi supra.

[9]Stow’s Survey of London, Edit. 4to. 1618, P. 616. An Engraving of it is inserted inDugdale’s Hist. of St. Paul’s, Edit. 1658, P. 290, and under it are givenLydgate’s Verses, which he observes at the End he had translated,“Not Word by Word, but following in Substance.”The Characters, as may be collected from the Titles to the Verses, are the Pope, Emperor, Cardinal, King, Patriarch, Constable, Archbishop, Baron, Princess, Bishop, Squire, Abbot, Abbess, Bailiff, Astronomer, Burgess, Canon Secular, Merchant, Chartreux, Serjeant, Monk, Usurer, Physician, Amorous Squire, Gentlewoman, Man of Law, Mr.John RekillTregetour, [i. e.Jugler. See the Glossary toUrry’sChaucer, Art.Treget] Parson, Juror, Minstrel, Labourer, Friar Minor, Child, Young Clerk, Hermit, the King eaten of Worms,Machabreethe Doctor.—Dugdale, P. 132, says thatCarpenterwas a Citizen of London, and that the Painting at St. Paul’s was in Imitation of that in the Cloister adjoining to St. Innocent’s Church-Yard, in Paris.

“Not Word by Word, but following in Substance.”

The Characters, as may be collected from the Titles to the Verses, are the Pope, Emperor, Cardinal, King, Patriarch, Constable, Archbishop, Baron, Princess, Bishop, Squire, Abbot, Abbess, Bailiff, Astronomer, Burgess, Canon Secular, Merchant, Chartreux, Serjeant, Monk, Usurer, Physician, Amorous Squire, Gentlewoman, Man of Law, Mr.John RekillTregetour, [i. e.Jugler. See the Glossary toUrry’sChaucer, Art.Treget] Parson, Juror, Minstrel, Labourer, Friar Minor, Child, Young Clerk, Hermit, the King eaten of Worms,Machabreethe Doctor.—Dugdale, P. 132, says thatCarpenterwas a Citizen of London, and that the Painting at St. Paul’s was in Imitation of that in the Cloister adjoining to St. Innocent’s Church-Yard, in Paris.

[10]Warton’sHistory of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54.

[11]Mr.Warton, in hisObservations onSpenser, first Edit. P. 230, in a Note, says, thatMacaberwrote a Description in Verse of a Procession, painted on the Walls of St. Innocent’s Cloister, at Paris, called theDance of Death; so that in this Passage Mr.Wartonmust be supposed to understand thatMacaber’s Verses were written posterior to that Painting. He further informs us, in the Additions and Corrections to the second Volume of hisHistory of Poetry, that the earliest complete French Translation of these Verses was printed in 1499, but that a less perfect Edition had been before published in 1486, and that the French Rhymes in this last are said to be byMichel Marot. A Copy in French ofLa grande Danse deMacabredes Hommes et des Femmes, printed in 4to. at Troyes, forJohn Garnier, but without a Date, I have seen; and find from the Verses under each Cut, that the Characters are the Pope, Emperor, Cardinal, King, Legate, Duke, Patriarch, Constable, Archbishop, Knight, Bishop, Squire, Abbot, Bailiff, Astrologer, Burgess, Canon, Merchant, School-Master, Man of Arms, Chartreux, Serjeant, Monk, Usurer, Physician, Lover, Advocate, Minstrel, Curate, Labourer, Proctor, Gaoler, Pilgrim, Shepherd, Cordelier, Child, Clerk, Hermit, Adventurer, Fool. The Women are the Queen, Duchess, Regent’s Wife, Knight’s Wife, Abbess, Squire’s Wife, Shepherdess, Cripple, Burgess’s Wife, Widow, Merchant’s Wife, Bailiff’s Wife, Young Wife, Dainty Dame, Female Philosopher, New-married Wife, Woman with Child, Old Maid, Female Cordelier, Chambermaid, Intelligence-Woman, Hostess, Nurse, Prioress, Damsel, Country Girl, Old Chambermaid, Huckstress, Strumpet, Nurse for Lying-in Women, Young Girl, Religious, Sorceress, Bigot, Fool.

[12]Warton’sHist. of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 53.

[13]Warton’sHistory of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54.

[14]Ibid.

[15]It cannot be doubted that these additional Cuts are those mentioned in the Dedication to the Edition of 1538, as being then left unfinished, for, among them, is the Cut of the Waggoner there particularly described.

[16]Walpole’sAnecdotes of Painting, Vol. I. P. 123.

[17]Keysler, in his Travels before referred to, Vol. I. P. 171, speaking of theDance of Death, at Basil, says, it is generally reputed to have been painted byHolbein, who had also drawn and painted aDeath’s Dance, and had likewise painted, as it were, a Duplicate of this Piece on another House, but which Time has entirely obliterated. “However,” adds he, “for several Reasons theDeath’s Dancenear the French Church may be presumed not to beHolbein’s, but the Work of another Artist whose Name wasBock.”

[18]Warton’sObservations onSpenser, Vol. II. P. 117, in the Note.

[19]Walpole’sAnecdotes of Painting, Vol. I. P. 115.

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