Initial or capital Letters with the Dance of Death.
It is very well known that the use of initial or capital letters, especially with figures of any kind, is not coeval with the invention of printing. It was some time before they were introduced at all, a blank being left, or else a small letter printed for the illuminators to cover or fill up, as they had been accustomed to do in manuscripts; for, although the art of printing nearly put an end to the occupation of that ingenious class of artists, they continued to be employed by the early printers to decorate their books with elegant initials, and particularly to illuminate the first pages of them with beautiful borders of foliage or animals, for the purpose of giving them the appearance of manuscripts.
It has more than once been most erroneously asserted by bibliographers and writers on typography, that Erhard Ratdolt, a printer at Venice, was the first person who made use of initial letters about the year 1477; for instances are not wanting of their introduction into some of the earliest printed books. Among the latter the most beautiful specimen of an ornamented capital letter is the B in the Psalter of 1457, of which Dr. Dibdin has given a very faithful copy in vol. I. p. 107, of the Bibliotheca Spenceriana. This truly elegant letter seems to have been regarded as the only one of its kind; but, in a fragment of an undescribed missal in folio, printed in the same type as the above-mentioned Psalter, there is an equally beautiful initial T, prefixedto the “Te igitur” canon of the mass. It is ornamented with flowers and foliage, and in both these precious volumes there are many other smaller capitals, but whether printed with the other type, or afterwards stamped, may admit of some doubt. This unique and valuable fragment is in the collection of the present writer.
As the art of printing advanced, the initial letters assumed every possible variety of form, with respect to the subjects with which they were ornamented. Incidents from scripture and profane history, animals of every kind, and the most ludicrous grotesques, constitute the general materials; nor has the Dance of Death been forgotten. It was first introduced into the books printed at Basle by Bebelius and Cratander about the year 1530, and for one or the other of these celebrated printers an alphabet of initial letters was constructed, which, in elegance of design and delicacy of engraving, have scarcely ever been equalled, and certainly never exceeded. Whether they were engraved in relief on blocks of type or printer’s metal, in the manner of wood-cutting, or executed in wood in the usual manner, is a matter of doubt, and likely to remain so. They may, in every point of view be regarded as the chef d’œuvre of ancient block engraving, and to copy them successfully at this time might require the utmost efforts of such artists as Harvey, Jackson, and Byfield.[134]
A proof set of this alphabet, in the possession of the present writer, was shown to M. De Mechel when he was in London, on which occasion he stated that he had seen in the public library of Basle another proof set on a single sheet, with the inscription “Hans Lutzelburger,” who is elsewhere calledformschneider, orblock-cutter, of which he has written a memorandum on the leaf containing the first abovementioned set of proofs. M. de Mechel, with great probability, inferred that this person was either the designer or engraver of the alphabet as well as of the cuts to the “Historiées faces de la mort,” on one of which, as already stated, the mark[monogram]is placed;[135]but to whomsoever this mark may turn out to belong, certain it is that Holbein never made use of it.[136]These letters measure precisely 1 inch by ⅞ of an inch, and the subjects are as follow:
A. A group of Deaths passing through a cemetery covered with sculls. One of them blows a trumpet, and another plays on a tabor and pipe.
B. Two Deaths seize upon a pope, on whom a demon fastens, to prevent their dragging him along.
C. An emperor in the clutches of two Deaths, one of whom he resists, whilst the other pulls off his crown.
D. A king thrown to the ground and forcibly dragged away by two Deaths.
E. Death and the cardinal.
F. An empress sitting in a chair is attacked by two Deaths, one of whom lifts up her petticoat.
G. A queen seized by two Deaths, one of whom plays on a fife.
H. A bishop led away by Death.
I. A duke with his hands clasped in despair is seized behind by Death in the grotesque figure of an old woman.
K. Death with a furred cap and mantle, and a flail in his right hand, seizes a nobleman.
L. Death in the habit of a priest with a vessel of holy water takes possession of the canon.
M. Death behind a physician in his study lays his hand on a urinal which he is inspecting.
N. One Death lays hold on a miser, whilst another carries off his money from a table.
O. Death carries off a terrified monk.
P. Combat between Death and the soldier.
Q. Death very quietly leads away a nun.
R. Death and the fool who strikes at him with his bauble.
S. Exhibits two Deaths, one of whom is in a very licentious action with a female, whilst the other runs off with an hour-glass on his back.
T. A minstrel with his pipe, lying prostrate on the ground, is dragged away by one Death, whilst another pours something from a vessel into his mouth.
V. A man on horseback endeavouring to escape from Death is seized by him behind.
W. Death and the hermit.
X. Death and the Devil among the gamblers.
Y. Death, the nurse, and the infant.
Z. The last Judgment.
But they were not only used at Basle by Bebelius Isingrin and Cratander, but also at Strasburg by Wolfgang Cephaleus, and probably by other printers; because in an edition of Huttichius’s “Romanorum principum effigies,” printed by Cephaleus at Strasburg in 1552, they appear in a very worn and much used condition. In his Greek Bible of 1526, near half the alphabet were used, some of them by different hands.
They were separately published in a very small volume without date, each letter being accompanied with appropriate scriptural allusions taken from the Vulgate Bible.
They were badly copied, and with occasional variations, for books printed at Strasburg by J. Schott about 1540. Same size as the originals. The same initials were used by Henry Stainer of Augsburg in 1530.
Schott also used two other sets of a larger size, the same subjects with variations, and which occur likewise in books printed at Frankfort about 1550 by Cyriacus Jacob.
Christopher Froschover, of Zurich, used two alphabets with the Dance of Death. In Gesner’s “Bibliotheca Universalis,” printed by him in 1545, folio, he used the letters A. B. C. in indifferent copies of the originals with some variation. In a Vulgate Bible, printed by him in 1544, he uses the A and C of the same alphabet, and also the following letters, with different subjects, viz. F. Death blowing a trumpet in his left hand, with the right seizes a friar holding his beads and endeavouring to escape. O. Death and the Swiss soldier with his battle-axe; and, S. a queen between two Deaths, one of whom leads her, the other holds up her train. The Gesner has also a Q from the same alphabet of Death and the nun. This second alphabet is coarsely engraved on wood, and both are of the same size as the originals.
In Francolin’s “Rerum præclare gestarum, intra et extra mœnia civitatis Viennensis, pedestri et equestri prælio, terra et aqua, elapso Mense Junio Anni DominiMDLX.elegantissimis iconibus ad vivum illustratarum, in laudem et gloriam sere. poten. invictissimique principis et Domini, Domini Ferdinandi electi Roma: imperatoris, &c. Vienna excudebat Raphael Hofhalter,” at fo. xxii. b. the letter D is closely copied in wood from the original, and appears to have been much used. This very rare work is extremely interesting for its large and spirited etchings of the various ceremonies on the above occasion, but more particularly for the tournaments. It is also valuable for the marks of the artists, some of which are quite unknown.
Other copies of them on wood occur in English books, but whether the whole alphabet was copied would be difficult to ascertain. In a Coverdale’s Bible, printedby James Nicolson in Southwark, the letters A. I. and T. occur. The subject of the A. is that of the fool and Death, from the R. of the originals, with the addition of the fool’s bauble on the ground: the two other letters are like the originals. The size 2 inches by 1½. The same letters, and no others, occur in a folio English Bible, the date of which has not been ascertained, it being only a fragment. The A is found as late as 1618 in an edition of Stowe’s “Survey of London.” In all these letters large white spots are on the back-ground, which might be taken for worm-holes, but are not so. The I occurs in J. Waley’s “table of yeres of kings,” 1567, 12mo.
An X and a T, an inch and ½ square, with the same subjects as in the originals, and not only closely copied, but nearly as well engraved on wood, are in the author’s collection. Their locality has not been traced.
Hollar etched the first six letters of the alphabet from the initials described in p.214. They are rather larger than the originals, but greatly inferior to them in spirit and effect.
Two other alphabets, the one of peasants dancing, the other of boys playing, by the same artists, have been already described in p.101, and were also used by the Basle and other printers.
In Braunii Civitates Orbis terrarum, Par. I. No. 37, edit. 1576, there is an H, inch and ½ square. The subject, Death leading a Pope on horseback. It is engraved on wood with much spirit.
In “Prodicion y destierro de los Moriscos de Castilla, por F. Marcos de Guadalajara y Xavier.” Pamplona, 1614, 4to. there is an initial E cut in wood with the subject of the cardinal, varied from that in Lutzenberger’s alphabet.
A Greek Π on wood, with Death leading away the pope, was used by Cephalæus in a Testament.
In “Fulwell’s Flower of Fame,” printed by W.Hoskins, 1575, 4to. is an initial of Death leading a king, probably belonging to some alphabet.
An S rudely cut on wood with Death seizing two children was used by the English printers, J. Herford and T. Marshe.
An A well cut on wood, representing Death striking a miser, who is counting his money at a table. It occurs at fo. 5 of Quad’s “fasciculus geographicus.” Cologne, 1608, small folio, printed by John Buxemacher.
An R indifferently cut on wood, two inches square. The subject, Death in a grave pulls an old man towards him. A boy making his escape. From some unknown book.
An S indifferently cut on wood, two inches square. Death shovelling two sculls, one crowned, into a grave. On the shovel the wordIDEM, and below, the initials of the engraver or designer, I. F. From some unknown book.
An H, an inch and half square, very beautifully cut on wood. The letter is surrounded by a group of people, over whom Death below is drawing a net. It is from some Dutch book of emblems, about 1640.
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, 1½ square.
A W, 2⅛ 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, whooffers 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, 1½ 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, 1½ inch.
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.
A round painting in oil, by or from Hans Holbein. The subject, an old man making love to a young girl. Death pulling him back, hints at the consequences, whilst the absurdity is manifested by the presence of a fool, with cockscomb and bauble, on the other side. Diameter, 15 inches. From the striking resemblance in the features of the old lover to those of Erasmus, there is no doubt that Holbein intended by this group to retort upon his friend, who, on one of the drawings which Holbein had inserted in a copy of Erasmus’s Praise of Folly, now in the public library at Basle, and which represented a fat epicure at table embracing a wench, had written the name ofHolbein, in allusion to his well-known intemperance. In the present writer’s possession.
The small painting by Isaac Oliver, from Holbein, formerly at Whitehall, of Death with a green garland, &c. already more particularly described at p.145.
A small painting in oil, by Old Franks, of a goutyold miser startled at the unexpected appearance of Death, who approaches him playing on a violin, one of his feet resting on an hour-glass. In the distance, and in another room, Death is seen in conversation with a sitting gentleman. Upright, 7½ by 5½.
The same subject, painted in oil by Otho Vænius, in which a guitar is substituted for the violin. This picture was in the collection of Richard Cosway, Esquire. Upright, 12 by 6, and is now belonging to the present writer.
A Mr. Knowles, a modern artist, is said to have painted a miser counting his hoard, and Death putting an extinguisher over him.
At p. 460 of the memoirs of that most ingenious artist, Charles Alfred Stothard, by his widow, mention is made of an old picture, at Nettlecombe Hall, Somersetshire, belonging to its owner, a clergyman, of a Dance of Death.
Mr. Tyssen, a bookseller at Bristol, is said to possess a will of the 15th century, in which the testator bequeaths a painting of the Dance of Death.
DRAWINGS.
In a beautifully illuminated Psalter, supposed to have been made for Richard II. and preserved among the Cotton MSS. Domit. xvii. is a very singular painting, representing part of the choir of a cathedral, with ten monks sitting in their stalls, and chaunting the service. At the top of these stalls, and behind it, are five grotesque Deaths looking down on the monks. One of the Deaths has a cardinal’s hat, two have baronial crowns on their heads, and those of the remaining two are decorated with a sort of imperial crowns, shaped like the papal tiara. A priest celebrates mass at the altar, before which another priest or monk prostrates himself. What the object of the painter was in theintroduction of these singular figures of Death is difficult to comprehend.
In the manuscript and illuminated copies of the “Romance of the Rose,” the “Pelerin de la vie humaine” and the “Chevalier Deliberé,” representations of Death as Atropos, are introduced.
A very ancient and masterly drawing of Death and the beggar, the outlines black on a blue ground, tinted with white and red. The figures[monogram]at bottom indicate its having been part of a Macaber Dance. Upright, 5¼ by 4. In the author’s possession.
Sir Thomas Lawrence had four very small drawings by Callot that seemed to be part of an intended series of a Dance of Death. 1. Death and the bishop. 2. Death and the soldier. 3. Death and the fool. 4. Death and the old woman.
An extremely fine drawing by Rembrandt of four Deaths, their hands joined in a dance, their faces outwards. One has a then fashionable female cap on his head, and another a cap and feather. Upright, 9½ by 6½. In the author’s possession.
A very singular drawing in pen and ink and bistre. In the middle, a sitting figure of a naked man holding a spindle, whilst an old woman, leaning over a tub on a bench, cuts the thread which he has drawn out. Near the old woman Death peeps in behind a wall. Close to the bench is a woman sitting on the ground mending a piece of linen, a child leaning on her shoulder. On the other side is a sitting female weaving, and another woman in an upright posture, and stretching one of her hands towards a shelf. Oblong, 11¼ by 8. In the author’s possession.
An anonymous drawing in pen and ink of a Death embracing a naked woman. His companion is mounted on the back of another naked female, and holds a dart in each hand. Oblong, 4 by 3¼. In the author’s possession.
A single sheet, containing four subjects, skilfully drawn with a pen and tinted in Indian ink. 1. An allegorical, but unknown figure sitting on a globe, with a sort of sceptre in his right hand. Death seizes him by his garment with great vigour, and endeavours to pull him from his seat. 2. Two men eating and drinking at a table. Death, unperceived, enters the room, and levels his dart at them. 3. Death seizes two naked persons very amorously situated. 4. Death seizes a miser counting his money. In the author’s possession.
Twenty-four very beautiful coloured drawings by a modern artist from those in the public library at Berne that were copied by Stettler from Kauw’s drawings of the original painting by Nicolas Manuel Deutch. In the author’s possession, together with lithographic copies of them that have been recently published at Berne.[137]
A modern Indian ink drawing of a drunken party of men and women. Death above in a cloud levels his dart at them. Upright, 5¼ by 3½. In the author’s possession.
A spirited drawing in Indian ink of two Deaths as pugilists with their bottle-holders. Oblong, 7 by 4½. In the author’s possession.
A pen and ink tinted drawing, intitled “The Last Drop.” A female seated before a table on which is a bottle of gin or brandy. She is drinking a glass of it, Death standing by and directing his dart at her. In the author’s possession.
Mr. Dagley, in the second edition of his “Death’s Doings,” p. 7, has noticed some very masterly designs chalked on a wall bordering the road from Turnham-Green towards Kew-Bridge. They exhibited figures of Death as a skeleton ludicrously occupiedwith gamblers, dancers, boxers, &c. all of the natural size. They were unfortunately swept away before any copies were made to perpetuate them, as they well deserved. It was stated in The Times newspaper that these sketches were made by a nephew of Mr. Baron Garrow, then living in retirement near the spot, but who afterwards obtained a situation in India. These drawings were made in 1819.
Four very clever coloured drawings by Rowlandson, being probably a portion of an unfinished series of a Death’s Dance. 1. The Suicide. A man seated near a table is in the act of discharging a pistol at his head. The sudden and terrific appearance of Death, who, starting from behind a curtain, significantly stares at him through an eye-glass. One of the candles is thrown down, and a wine-glass jerked out of the hand of the suicide, who, from a broken sword and a hat with a cockade, seems intended for some ruined soldier of fashion. A female servant, alarmed at the report of the pistol, rushes into the apartment. Below, these verses:
Death smiles, and seems his dart to hide,When he beholds the suicide.
2. The Good Man, Death, and the Doctor. A young clergyman reads prayers to the dying man; the females of his family are shedding tears. Death unceremoniously shoves out the physician, who puts one hand behind him, as expecting a fee, whilst with the other he lifts his cane to his nostrils. Below, these lines:
No scene so blest in Virtue’s eyes,As when the man of virtue dies.
3. The Honey-moon. A gouty old fellow seated on a sopha with his youthful bride, who puts her hand through a window for a military lover to kiss it. A table covered with a desert, wine, &c. Death, stretching over a screen, pours something from a bottle intothe glass which the husband holds in his hand. Below, these verses:
When the old fool has drunk his wine,And gone to rest, I will be thine.
4. The Fortune-teller. Some females enter the conjurer’s study to have their fortunes told. Death seizes the back of his chair and oversets him. Below, these verses:
All fates he vow’d to him were known,And yet he could not tell his own.
These drawings are oblong, 9 by 5 inches. In the author’s possession.
MISCELLANEOUS.
A circular carving on wood, with the mark of Hans Schaufelin[monogram], representing Death seizing a naked female, who turns her head from him with a very melancholy visage. It is executed in a masterly manner. Diameter, 4 inches. In the author’s possession.
In Boxgrove church, Sussex, there is a splendid and elaborately sculptured monument of the Lords Delawar; and on the side which has not been engraved in Mr. Dallaway’s history of the county, there are two figures of Death and a female, wholly unconnected with the other subjects on the tomb. These figures are 9½ inches in height, and of rude design. Many persons will probably remember to have seen among the ballads, &c. that were formerly, and are still exhibited on some walls in the metropolis, a poem, intitled “Death and the Lady.” This is usually accompanied with a wood-cut, resembling the above figures. It is proper to mention likewise on this occasion the old alliterative poem in Bishop Percy’s famous manuscript, intitledDeath and Liffe, the subject of which is a visionwherein the poet sees a contest for superiority between “our Lady Dame Life,” and the “ugly fiend, Dame Death.” See “Percy’s Reliques of ancient English poetry,” in the Essay on the Metre of Pierce Plowman’s Vision. Whether there may have been any connexion between these respective subjects must be left to the decision of others. There is certainly some reason to suppose so.
The sculptures at Berlin and Fescamp have been already described.
Among the subjects of tapestry at the Tower of London, the most ancient residence of our kings, was “the Dance of Macabre.” See the inventory of King Henry VIII.’s Guardrobe, &c. in MS. Harl. 1419, fo. 5.
Two panes of glass with a portion of a Dance of Death. 1. Three Deaths, that appear to have been placed at the beginning of the Dance. Over them, in a character of the time of Henry VII. these lines:
... ev’ry man to be contented wthis chaunce,And when it shall please God to folowe my daunce.
2. Death and the Pope. No verses. Size, upright, 8½ by 7 inches. In the author’s possession. They have probably belonged to a Macaber Dance in the windows of some church.
Trois vifs et trois morts.—Negro figure of Death.—Danse aux Avengles.
The first of these subjects, as connected with the Macaber Dance, has been already introduced at p.31-33; what is now added will not, it is presumed, be thought unworthy of notice.
It is needless to repeat the descriptions that have been given by M. Peignot of the manuscripts in the Duke de la Valliere’s catalogue. The following are some of the printed volumes in which representations of thetrois vifs et trois mortsoccur.
They are to be found in all the editions of the Danse Macabre that have already been described, and in the following Horæ and other service books of the catholic church.
“Horæ ad usum Sarum,” 1495, no place, no printer. 4to. Three Deaths, three horsemen with hawks and hounds. The hermit, to whom the vision appeared, in his cell.
“Heures à l’usaige de Rome.” Paris. Nicolas Higman, for Guil. Eustace, 1506, 12mo.
“Horæ ad usum Traject.” 1513. 18mo.
“Breviarium seu horarium domesticum ad usum Sarum.” Paris, F. Byrckman, 1516. Large folio. Three Deaths and three young men.
“Horæ ad usum Romanum.” Paris. Thielman Kerver, 1522. 8vo. And again, 1535. 4to.
A Dutch “Horæ.” Paris. Thielman Kerver, 1522. 8vo.
“Heures à l’usage de Paris.” Thielman Kerver’s widow, 1525. 8vo.
“Missale ad usum Sarum.” Paris, 1527. Folio. Three horsemen as noblemen, but without hawks or hounds.
“Enchiridion preclare ecclesie Sarum.” Paris. Thielman Kerver, 1528. 32mo.
“Horæ ad usum fratrum predicatorum ordinis S. Dominici.” Paris. Thielman Kerver, 1529. 8vo.
“Horæ ad usum Romanum.” Paris. Yolande Bonhomme, widow of T. Kerver, 1531. 8vo.
“Missale ad usum Sarum.” Paris. F. Regnault, 1531. Three Deaths only; different from the others.
“Prayer of Salisbury.” Paris. Francois Regnault, 1531, 12mo.
“Horæ ad usum Sarum.” Paris. Widow of Thielman Kerver, 1532. 12mo.
“Heures à l’usage de Paris.” Francois Regnault, 1535. 12mo.
“Horæ ad usum Romanum.” Paris. Gilles Hardouyn, 1537. 18mo. The subject is different from all the others, and very curiously treated.
“Heures à l’usage de Paris.” Thielman Kerver, 1558. 12mo.
“Heures à l’usage de Rome.” Paris. Thielman Kerver, 1573. 12mo.
“Heures à l’usage de Paris.” Jacques Kerver, 1573. 12mo. And again, 1575. 12mo.
In “The Contemplation of Sinners,” printed by Wynkyn de Worde. 4to.
All the above articles are in the collections of the author of this dissertation.
In an elegant MS. “Horæ,” in the Harl. Coll. No. 2917, 12mo. three Deaths appear to a pope, an emperor,and a king coming out of a church. All the parties are crowned.
At the end of Desrey’s “Macabri speculum choreæ mortuorum,” a hermit sees a vision of a king, a legislator, and a vain female. They are all lectured by skeletons in their own likenesses.
In a manuscript collection of unpublished and chiefly pious poems of John Awdeley, a blind poet and canon of the monastery of Haghmon, in Shropshire, anno 1426, there is one on the “trois vifs et trois morts,” in alliterative verses, and composed in a very grand and terrific style.
NEGRO FIGURE OF DEATH.
In some degree connected with the old painting of the Macaber Dance in the church-yard of the Innocents at Paris, was that of a black man over a vaulted roof, constructed by the celebrated N. Flamel, about the year 1390. This is supposed to have perished with the Danse Macabre; but a copy of the figure has been preserved in some of the printed editions of the dance. It exhibits a Negro blowing a trumpet, and was certainly intended as a personification of Death. In one of the oldest of the above editions he is accompanied with these verses:
Cry de Mort.Tost, tost, tost, que chacun savanceMain à main venir a la danseDe Mort, danser la convient,Tous et a plusieurs nen souvient.Venez hommes femmes et enfans,Jeunes et vieulx, petis et grans,Ung tout seul nen eschapperoit,Pour mille escuz si les donnoit, &c.
Before the females in the dance the figure is repeated with a second “Cry de Mort.”
Tost, tost, venez femmes danserApres les hommes incontinent,Et gardez vous bien de verser,Car vous danserez vrayment;Mon cornet corne bien souventApres les petis et les grans.Despecte vous legierement,Apres la pluye vient le beau temps.
These lines are differently given in the various printed copies of the Danse Macabre.
This figure is not to be confounded with an alabaster statue of Death that remained in the church-yard of the Innocents, when it was entirely destroyed in 1786. It had been usually regarded as the work of Germain Pilon, but with greater probability belonged to Francois Gentil, a sculptor at Troyes, about 1540. It was transported to Notre Dame, after being bronzed and repaired, by M. Deseine, a distinguished artist. It was saved from the fury of the iconoclast revolutionists by M. Le Noir, and deposited in the Museum which he so patriotically established in the Rue des petits Augustins, but it has since disappeared. It was an upright skeleton figure, holding in one hand a lance which pointed to a shield with this inscription:
Il n’est vivant, tant soit plein d’art,Ne de force pour resistance,Que je ne frappe de mon dart,Pour bailler aux vers leur pitance.Priez Dieu pour les trespassés.
It is engraved in the second volume of M. Le Noir’s “Musée des monumens Francais,” and also in his “Histoire des arts en France,” No. 91.
DANSE AUX AVEUGLES.
There is a poetical work, in some degree connected with the subject of this dissertation, that ought not tobe overlooked. It was composed by one Pierre Michault, of whom little more seems to be known than that he was in the service of Charles, Count of Charolois, son of Philip le Bon, Duke of Burgundy. It is intitled “La Danse aux Aveugles,” and the object of it is to show that all men are subject to the influence of three blind guides, Love, Fortune, and Death, before whom several persons are whimsically made to dance. It is a dialogue in a dream between the Author and Understanding, and the respective blind guides describe themselves, their nature, and power over mankind, in ten-line stanzas, of which the following is the first of those which are pronounced by Death:
Je suis la Mort de nature ennemie,Qui tous vivans finablement consomme,Anichillant à tous humains la vie,Reduis en terre et en cendre tout homme.Je suis la mort qui dure me surnomme,Pour ce qu’il fault que maine tout affin;Je nay parent, amy, frere ou affinQue ne face tout rediger en pouldre,Et suis de Dieu ad ce commise affin,Que l’on me doubte autant que tonnant fouldre.
Some of the editions are ornamented with cuts, in which Death is occasionally introduced, and that portion of the work which exclusively relates to him seems to have been separately published, M. Goujet[138]having mentioned that he had seen a copy in vellum, containing twelve leaves, with an engraving to every one of the stanzas, twenty-three in number. More is unnecessary to be added, as M. Peignot has elaborately and very completely handled the subject in his interesting “Recherches sur les Danses des Morts.” Dijon, 1826. octavo.
Errors of various writers who have introduced the subject of the Dance of Death.
To enumerate even a moiety of these mistakes would almost occupy a separate volume, but it may be as well to notice some of them which are to be found in works of common occurrence.
Travellers.—The erroneous remarks of Bishop Burnet and Mr. Coxe have been already adverted to. See pp.79,134, and138.
Misson seems to regard the old Danse Macabre as the work of Holbein.
The Rev. Robert Gray, in “Letters during the course of a tour through Germany and Switzerland in the year 1791 and 1792,” has stated that Mechel has engravedRubens’s designsfrom the Dance of Death, now perishing on the walls of the church-yard of the Predicant convent, where it was sketched in 1431.
Mr. Wood, in his “View of the History of Switzerland,” as quoted in the Monthly Review, Nov. 1799, p. 290, states, that “the Dance of Death in the church-yard of the Predicants has been falsely ascribed to Holbein, as it is proved that it was paintedlong after the death of that artist, and not before he was born, as the honourable Horace Walpole supposes.” Here the corrector stands in need himself of correction, unless it be possible that he is not fairly quoted by the reviewer.
Miss Williams, in her Swiss tour, 1798, when speakingof the Basle Dance of Death, says it was painted by Kleber, apupil of Holbein.
Those intelligent and amusing travellers, Breval, Keysler, and Blainville have carefully avoided the above strange mistakes.
Writers on painting and engraving.—Meyssens, in his article for Holbein in “the effigies of the Painters,” mentions his “Death’s Dance, in the town-hall of Basle, the design whereof he first neatly cut in wood and afterwards painted, which appeared so fine to the learned Erasmus, &c.” English edition, 1694, p. 15.
Felibien, in his “Entretiens sur les vies des Peintres,” follows Meyssens as to the painting in the town-hall.
Le Comte places the supposed painting by Holbein in the fish-market, and in other respects copies Meyssens. “Cabinet des Singularités, &c.” tom. iii. p. 323, edit. 1702, 12mo.
Bullart not only places the painting in the town-hall of Basle, but adds, that he afterwards engraved it in wood. “Acad. des Sciences et des Arts,” tom. ii. p. 412.
Mr. Evelyn, in his “Sculptura,” the only one of his works that does him no credit, and which is a meagre and extremely inaccurate compilation, when speaking of Holbein, actually runs riot in error and misconception. He calls him a Dane. He makes what he terms “the licentiousness of the friars and nuns,” meaning probably Hollar’s sixteen etchings after Holbein’s satire on monks and friars and other members of the Romish church as the persecutors of Christ, and also the “Dance Machabre and Mortis imago,” to have been cut in wood, and one or both of the latter to have been painted in the church of Basle. Mr. Evelyn’s own copy of this work, with several additions in manuscript, is in the possession of Mr. Taylor, a retired and ingenious artist, of Cirencester-place. He probablyintended to reprint it, and opposite the above-mentioned word “Dane,” has inserted a query.
Sandrart places the Dance of Death in the fish-market at Basle, and makes Holbein the painter as well as the engraver. “Acad. artis pictoriæ,” p. 238, edit. 1683, folio.
Baldinucci speaks of twenty prints of the Dance of Death painted by Holbein in the Senate-house of Basle. “Notizie dè professori del disegno, &c.” tom. iii. 313 and 319.
M. Descamps inadvertently ascribes the old Dance of Death on the walls of the church-yard of Saint Peter to the pencil of Holbein. “Vie des Peintres Flamandi,” &c. 1753. 8vo. Tom. i. p. 75.
Papillon, in his account of the Dance of Death, abounds with inaccuracies. He says, that a magistrate of Basle employed him to paint a Dance of Death in the fish-market, near a church-yard; that the work greatly increased his reputation, and made much noise in the world, although it has many anatomical defects; that he engraved this painting on small blocks of wood with unparalleled beauty and delicacy. He supposes that they first appeared in 1530 at Basle or Zuric, and as he thinks with a title and German verses on each print. Now he had never seen any edition so early as 1530, nor any of the cuts with German verses, and having probably been misled on this occasion, he has been the cause of misleading many subsequent writers, as Fournier, Huber, Strutt, &c. He adopts the error as to the mark[monogram]on the thirty-sixth subject belonging to Holbein. He is entirely ignorant of the nature and character of the fool or idiot in No. xliii. whom he terms “un homme lascif qui a levé le devant de sa robbe:” and, to crown the whole, he makes the old Macaber Dance animitationof that ascribed to Holbein.
De Murr, in tom. ii. p. 535 of his “Bibliothéque dePeinture, &c.” servilely copies Papillon in all that he has said on the subject, with some additional errors of his own.
The Abbé Fontenai, in the article for Holbein in his “Dictionnaire des Artistes,” Paris, 1776, 8vo. not only makes him the painter of the old Macaber Dance, but places it in the town-house at Basle.
Mr. Walpole, or rather Vertue, in the “Anecdotes of Painting in England,” corrects the error of those who give the old Macaber Dance to Holbein, but inadvertently makes that which is usually ascribed to him to have been borrowed from the other.
Messrs. Huber and Rost make Holbein the engraver of the Lyons wood-cuts, and suppose the original drawings to be preserved in the public library at Basle. They probably allude to the problematical drawings that were used by M. de Mechel, and which are now in Russia. “Manuel des curieux et des amateurs de l’art.” Tom. i. p. 155.
In the “Notices sur les graveurs,” Besancon, 1807, 8vo. a work that has, by some writers, been given to M. Malpé, and by others to the Abbé Baverel, Papillon is followed with respect to the supposed edition of 1530, and its German verses.
Mr. Janssen is more inaccurate than any of his predecessors, some of whom have occasionally misled him. He makes Albert Durer the inventor of the designs, the greater part of which, he says, are from the Dance of Death at Berne. He adopts the edition of 1530, and the German verses. He condemns the title-page of the edition of 1562 for stating an addition of seventeen plates, whereas, says he, there are but five; but the editor meant only that there were seventeen more cuts than in the original, which had only forty-one.
Miscellaneous writers.—Charles Patin, a libeller of the English nation, has made Holbein the engraver on wood of a Dance of Death, which, he says, is “notmuch unlike that in the church-yard of the Predicants at Basle, painted, as some say, from the life, by Holbein.” He ought to have known that this work was executed near a century before Holbein was born. “Erasmi stultitiæ laus.” Basileæ, 1676, 8vo. at the end of the list of Holbein’s works.
Martiniere, in his Geographical Dictionary, makes Holbein the inventor of the Macaber Dance at Basle.
Goujet, in his very useful “Bibliothéque Francoise,” tom. x. p. 436, has erroneously stated that the Lyons engravings on wood were by the celebrated artist Salomon Bernard, usually called “Le petit Bernard.” The mistake is very pardonable, as it appears that Bernard chiefly worked in the above city.
M. Compan, in his “Dictionnaire de Danse,” 1787, 12mo. under the articleMacabrée, very gravely asserts that the author took his work from the Maccabees, “qui, comme tout le monde scait danserent, et en ont fait epoque pour les morts.” He then quotes some lines from a modern edition of the “Danse Macabre,” where the wordMachabéesis ignorantly substituted for “Machabre.”
M. Fournier states that Holbein painted a Dance of Death in the fish-market at Basle, reduced it, and engraved it. “Dissertation sur l’imprimerie,” p. 70.
Mr. Warton has converted the imaginary Machabree intoa French poet, but corrects himself in his “Hist. of Engl. Poetry.” He supposes the single cut in Lydgate to representallthe figures that were in St. Paul’s cloister. He atones for these errors in referring to Holbein’s cuts in Cranmer’s Catechism, as entirely different in style from those published at Lyons,but which he thinks, are probably the work of Albert Durer, and also in his conjecture that the painter Reperdius might have been concerned in the latter. See “Observations on the Fairy Queen of Spenser,” vol. ii. 116, &c. In his most elegant and instructive History of English Poetryhe relapses into error when he states that Holbein painted a Dance of Death in the Augustine monastery at Basle in 1543, and that Georgius Æmylius published this Dance at Lyons, 1542, one year before Holbein’s painting at Basle appeared. Hist. Engl. Poetry, vol. ii. p. 364, edit. Price.
The Marquis de Paulmy ascribes the old Macaber Dance at Basle to Holbein, and adds, “le sujet et l’execution en sont aussi singuliers que ridicules.” “Mélanges tirés d’une grande bibliothéque,” tom. Ff. 371.
M. Champollion Figeac in Millin’s “Magazin encyclopedique,” 1811, tom. vi. has an article on an edition of the “Danse Macabre anterieure à celle de 1486.” In this article he states that Holbein painted a fresco Dance of Death at Basle near the end of the 15th century (Holbein was not born till 1498!); that this Dance resembled the Danse Macabre, all the characters of which are in Holbein’s style; that it is still more like the Dance in the Monasticon Anglicanum in a single print; and that the English Dance belongs to John Porey, an author who appears, however, to be unknown to all biographers. We should have been obliged to M. Figeac if he had mentioned where he met with this John Porey, whom he again mentions, but in such a manner as to leave a doubt whether he means to consider him as a poet or a painter. Even M. Millin himself, from whom more accuracy might have been expected, speaks of Holbein’s work as at the Dominican convent at Basle.
The “Nouveau Dictionnaire Historique,” 1789, 8vo. gives the painting on the walls of the cemetery of St. Peter at Basle, to Holbein, confounding the two works as some other French biographical dictionaries have done, especially one that has cited an edition of the Danse Macabre in 1486 as the first of Holbein’s painting, though it immediately afterwards states that artist to have been born in 1498.
In that excellent work, the “Biographie universelle,” in 42 vols. 8vo. 1811-1828, M. Ponce, under the article “Holbein,” inaccurately refers to “the Dance of Death painted in 1543 on the walls of a cemetery at Basle,” at the same time properly remarking that it was not Holbein’s. He refers to the supposed original drawings of Holbein’s work at Petersburg that were engraved by De Mechel, and concludes his brief note with a reference to a dissertation of M. Raymond in Millin’s “Magazin encyclopedique,” 1814, tom. v. which is nothing more than a simple notice of two editions of the Danse Macabre, described in the present dissertation.
And lastly—The Reviewer of the first edition of the present dissertation prefixed to Mr. Edwards’s engravings or etchings by Wenceslaus Hollar, has displayed considerable ingenuity in his attempt to correct supposed errors, by a lavish substitution of many of his own, some of which are the following:
That the Dance of Death is found incarvings in wood in the choirs of churches. Not a single instance can be produced.
That Hollar’s etchings are onwood.
“Black letter” iscorrectedto “Black letters.”
That the book would have been morecomplete if Lydgate’s stanzashad been quoted, in common with others inPiers Plowman. Now all the stanzas of Lydgate are given, and not a single one is to be found in Piers Plowman.
And they mostingeniously and scientificallydenominate the skeleton figure of Death “the Gothic monster of Holbein!”
A short time after the completion of the present Dissertation, the author accidentally became possessed of a recently published German life of Holbein, in which not a single addition of importance to what has been gleaned from preceding writers can possibly be found. It contains a general, but extremely superficial account of the works of that artist, including the Dance of Death, which, as a matter of course, is ascribed to him. As the author, a Mr. Ulrich Hegner, who is said to be aSwiss gentleman and amateur, has not conducted himself with that urbanity and politeness which might have been looked for from such acharacter, and has thought proper, in adverting to the slight Essay by the present writer, prefixed, at the instance of the late Mr. Edwards, to his publication of Hollar’s etchings of the Dance of Death, to speak of it with a degree of contempt, which, even with all its imperfections, others may think it may not have deserved; the abovegentlemanwill have but little reason to complain should he meet with a somewhat uncourteous retort in the course of the following remarks on his compilation.
Had Mr. Hegner written with a becoming diffidence in his opinions, his work might have commanded and deserved respect, though greatly abounding in error and false conceit. He has undertaken a task for which he has shown himself wholly unqualified, and with much unseemly arrogance, and its usual concomitant, ignorance, has assumed to himself a monopoly of information on the subject which he discusses. His arguments, if worthy of the name, are, generally speaking, of a most weak and flimsy texture. In support of his dogmatical opinion that the original designs for the Lyons Dance of Death exclusively belong to Holbein he has not adduced a single fact. He has not been in possession of a tenth part of the materials that were necessary for the proper investigation of his subject,nor does he appear to have even seen them. The very best judges of whatever relates to the history and art of engraving are quite satisfied that most of the persons who have written on them, with the exception of Mr. Ottley, and of the modest and urbane Monsieur Peignot, are liable to the charge of extreme inaccuracy and imperfection in their treatment of the Dance of Death, and the list of such writers may now be closed with the addition of Herr Hegner.
Some of his positions are now to be stated and examined.
He makes Holbein the author of a new Dance of Death in the Crozat or Gallitzin drawings in Indian ink which have been already described in the present dissertation, adding that he alsoengravedthem, and suppressing any mention in this place of the monogram on one of the cuts which heelsewhere admits not to belong to Holbein. Soon afterwards, and with very good reason, he doubts the originality of the drawings, which he says M. de Mechel caused to be copied by Rudolph Schellenberg, a skilful artist, already mentioned as the author of a Dance of Death of his own invention; and proceeds to state, that from these copies De Mechel employed some inferior persons in his service to make engravings; advancing all this without the accompaniment of any proof whatever, and in direct contradiction to De Mechel’s authority of having himself engraved them. An apparently bitter enemy to De Mechel, whose posthumous materials, now in the library at Basle, he nevertheless admits to have used for his work, he invidiously enlarges on the discrepancies between his engravings and the Lyons wood-cuts, both in size and manner; and then concludes that they were copied from the wood-cuts, the copyist allowing himself the privilege of making arbitrary variations, especially in the figure of the Eve in the second cut, which, he says, is of the family of Boucher, who, inspite of Hegner’s opinion, is regarded by better judges as a clever painter. Whether the remarks on any deviations of De Mechel’s prints from the Crozat drawings are just or otherwise can now be decided by comparison only, and Hegner does not appear to have seen them, or at least does not tell us so. His criticisms on the merit of the engravings in De Mechel’s work cannot be justified, for though they may occasionally be faulty, they are very neatly, and many will think beautifully executed.
What Hegner has said respecting the alphabets of initial letters, is at once futile and inaccurate; but his comment on Hans Lutzenberger deserves the severest censure. Adverting to the inscription with the name of this fine artist on one of the sets of the initials, he terms him “an itinerantbookseller, who had bought the blocks and put his name on them;” and this after having himself referred to a print on which Lutzenberger is calledFORMSCHNEIDER,i. e.woodcutter: making in this instance a clumsy and dishonest effort to get rid of an excellent engraver, who stands so recorded in opposition to his own untenable system.
The very important and indelible expressions in the dedication to the first known edition of the Lyons wood-cuts, he very modestly terms “a play upon words,” and endeavours to account for the death of the painter by supposing Holbein’s absence in England would warrant the language of the dedication. This is indeed a most desperate argument. Frellon, the publisher and proprietor of the work, must have known better than to have permitted the dedication to accompany his edition had it been susceptible of so silly a construction.
He again adheres to the improbable notion thatHolbein engravedthe cuts to the Lyons book, and this in defiance of the mark or monogram[monogram]which this painter never used; nor will a single print withHolbein’s accredited name be found to bear the slightest resemblance to the style of the wood-cuts. Even those in Cranmer’s catechism, which approach the nearest to them, are in a different manner. His earlier engravings on wood, whether in design only, or as the engraver, resemble those by Urs Graaf, who, as well as Holbein, decorated the frontispieces or titles to many of the books printed at Basle. It is not improbable that Urs Graaf was at that time a pupil of Holbein.
Hegner next endeavours to annihilate the painting at Whitehall recorded in Nieuhoff’s etchings and dedications, but still by arguments of an entirely negative kind. He lays much stress on this painting not being specifically mentioned by Sandrart or Van Mander, who were in England; but where does it appear that the latter, during his short stay in this country, had visited Whitehall? Even admitting that both these persons had seen that palace, it is most probable that the fresco painting of the Dance of Death, would, from length of time, dampness of the walls, and neglect, have been in a condition that would not warrant the exhibition of it, and it was, moreover, placed in a gallery which scarcely formed, at that time, a part of Whitehall, and which was, probably, not shown to visitors. It must not, however, be omitted to mention that Sandrart, in p. 239 of his Acad. Pict. states, though ambiguously, that “there was still remaining at Whitehall a work by Holbein that would constitute him the Apelles of his time,” an expression which we may remember had been also applied to Holbein by his friend Borbonius in the complimentary lines on a Dance of Death.
The Herr Hegner has thought fit to speak of Mr. T. Nieuhoff in terms of indecorous and unjust contempt, describing him as “an unknown and unimportant Dutch copper-plate engraver,” and arraigning his evidence as being in manuscript only; as if manuscripts that have never been printed were of no authority.But where has Hegner discovered that Nieuhoff was a Dutch copper-plate engraver, by which is meant a professed artist; or even though he had been such, would that circumstance vitiate his testimony? In his dedication to Lord William Benting the expressions allusive to his ardent love of the arts, seem to constitute him an amateur attempter of etching; for what he has left us in that way is indeed of a very subordinate character, and unworthy of a professed artist. He appears to have been one of the Dutchmen who accompanied King William to England, and to have had apartments assigned to him at Whitehall. At the end of his dedication to Lord W. Benting, he calls himself an old servant of that person’s father, and subscribes himself “your and your illustrious family’s most obedient and humble servant.”
The identification of William Benting must be left to the sagacity of others. He could not have been the Earl of Portland created in 1689, or he would have been addressed accordingly. He is, moreover, described as a youth born at Whitehall, and then residing there, and whose dwelling consisted of nearly the whole of the palace that remained after the fire.
Again,—We have before us a person living in the palace of Whitehall anterior to its destruction, testifying what he had himself seen, and addressing one who could not be imposed upon, as residing also in the palace. There seems to be no possible motive on the part of Nieuhoff for stating an untruth, and his most clear and unimpeachable testimony is opposed by Hegner’s wild and weak conjectures, and chiefly by the negative argument that a few strangers who visited England in a hasty manner have not mentioned the painting in question at Whitehall, amidst those inaccurate and superficial accounts of England which, with little exception, have been given by foreign travellers. Among these Hegner has selected Patin and Sandrart.Before adducing the former, he would have done well to have looked at his very imperfect and erroneous account of Holbein’s works, in his edition of the ΜΩΡΙΑΣ ΕΓΚΩΜΙΟΝ of Erasmus; and, with respect to the latter, the stamp of inaccuracy has been long affixed to most of the works he has published. He has mentioned, that being in company with Rubens in a Dutch passage boat “the conversation fell upon Holbein’s book of cuts, representing the Dance of Death; that Rubens gave them the highest encomiums, advising him, who was then a young man, to set the highest value upon them, informing him, at the same time, that he in his youth had copied them.”[139]On this passage Mr. Warton has well remarked that if Rubens styled these prints Holbein’s, in familiar conversation, it was but calling them by the name which the world had given them, and by which they were generally known; and that Sandrart has, in another place, confounded them with the Basle painting.[140]
To conclude,—Juvenal’s “hoc volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas,” may be regarded as Herr Hegner’s literary motto. He has advocated the vague traditions of unauthenticated Dances of Death by Holbein, and has made a most unjustifiable attempt to deprive that truly great artist of the only painting on the subject which really appears to belong to him. Yet, if by fair and candid argument, supported by the necessary proofs, the usual and long standing claim on the part of Holbein can be substantiated, no one will thereby be more highly gratified than the author of this dissertation.