pinxit, H. Holbein inv. H. Holbein inventor. On one of his portraits from the Arundel collection he has placed “
incidit in lignum.” No copy, however, of this portrait has occurred in wood, and, if this be only a conjecture on the part of the engraver, the distance of time between the respective artists is an objection to its validity, though it is possible that Holbein might have engraved on wood, because there are prints which have all the appearance of belonging to him, that have his usual mark, accompanied by an engraving tool. There is no text to these etchings, except the Latin scriptural passages under each, that occur in the original editions in that language. As a sort of frontispiece to the work, Hollar has transferred the last cut of the allegorical shield of arms, supported by a lady and gentleman, to the beginning, with the appropriate title of MORTALIVM NOBILITAS. The other subjects are, 1. Adam and Eve in Paradise. 2. Their expulsion from Paradise. 3. Adam digging, Eve spinning. 4. The Pope. 5. The Emperor. 6. The Empress. 7. The Queen. 8. The Cardinal. 9. The Duke. 10. The Bishop. 11. The Nobleman. 12. The Abbot. 13. The Abbess. 14. The Friar. 15. The Nun. 16. The Preacher. 17. The Physician. 18. The Soldier, or Warrior. 19. The Advocate. 20. The Married Couple. 21. The Duchess. 22. The Merchant. 23. The Pedlar. 24. The Miser. 25. The Waggoner with wine casks. 26. The Gamesters. 27. The Old Man. 28. The Old Woman. 29. The Infant. Of these, Nos. 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 14, 23, 27, and 28, correspond with the Lyons wood-cuts, except that in No. 1 a stag is omitted, and there are some variations; in No. 6, the windows of the palace are altered; in No. 13, a window is added to the house next to the nunnery; and in No. 9, a figure is introduced, and the ducal palace much altered; in No. 23, a sword is omitted. They are all reverses, except No. 5. The rest of the subjects are reversed, with one exception, from the copies by
in the spurious edition first printed at Cologne in 1555, with occasional very slight variations. Hollar’s copies from the original cuts are in a small degree less both in width and depth. In the subject of Death and the Soldier he has not shown his judgment in making use of the spurious edition rather than the far more elegant and interesting original,[122] and it is remarkable that this is the only print belonging to the spurious ones that is not reversed.
It is very probable that Hollar executed this work at Antwerp, where, at the time of its date, he might have found Diepenbecke and engaged him to make designs for the borders which are etched on separate plates, thus supplying passe-par-touts that might be used at discretion. Many sets appear without the borders, which seem to have strayed, and perhaps to have been afterwards lost or destroyed. As Rubens is recorded to have admired the beauty of the original cuts, so it is to be supposed that Diepenbecke, his pupil, would entertain the same opinion of them, and that he might have suggested to Hollar the making etchings of them, undertaking himself to furnish appropriate borders. But how shall we account for the introduction of so many of the spurious and inferior designs, if he had the means of using the originals? Many books were formerly excessively rare, which, from peculiar circumstances, not necessary to be here detailed, but well known to bibliographers and collectors, have since become comparatively common. Hollar might not have had an opportunity of meeting with a perfect copy of the original cuts, or he might, in some way or other, have been impeded in the use of them, when executing his work, and thus have been driven to the necessity of pursuing it by means of the spurious edition. These, however, are but conjectures, and it remains for every one to adopt his own opinion.
The copper-plates of the above thirty etchings appear to have fallen into the hands of an English noble family, from which the late Mr. James Edwards, a bookseller of well merited celebrity, obtained them, and about the year 1794 caused many impressions to be taken off after they had been rebitten with great care, so as to prevent that injury, with respect to outline, which usually takes place where etchings or engravings upon copper are retouched. Previously to this event good impressions must have been extremely rare, at least on the continent, as they are not found in the very rich collections of Winckler or Brandes, nor are they mentioned by the foreign writers on engraving. To Mr. Edwards’s publication of Hollar’s prints there was prefixed a short dissertation on the Dance of Death, which is here again submitted to public attention in a considerably enlarged form, and corrected from the errors and imperfections into which its author had been misled by preceding writers on the subject, and by the paucity of the materials which he was then able to obtain. This edition was reprinted verbatim, and with the same etchings, in 1816, for J. Coxhead, in Holywell Street, Strand, but without any mention of the former, and accompanied with the addition of a brief memoir of Holbein.
It is most likely that Hollar, having discovered the error which he had committed in copying the spurious engravings before-mentioned, and subsequently procured a set of genuine impressions, resolved to make another set of etchings from the original work, four only of which he appears to have executed, his death probably taking place before they could be completed. These are, 1. The Pope crowning the Emperor, with “Moriatur sacerdos magnus.” 2. The rich man disregarding the beggar, with “Qui obturat aurem suam ad clamorem pauperis, &c.” and the four Latin lines, “Consulitis, dites, &c.” at bottom, as in the original. It is beautifully and most faithfully copied, with
inv. Hollar fecit. 3. The Ploughman, with “In sudore vultus, &c.” 4. The Robber, with “Domine vim patior.”