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, a Death’s Dance had 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 the Dance of Death became 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 his Travels, Vol. I. P. 102, speaking of Lubec, gives the following Account:
“But the most noted Thing in St. Mary’s Church is the Painting called Death’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 Hand takes 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 by Nathaniel Schlott, of Dantzick.” Of these Verses Dr. Nugent has 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, one Jenken Carpenter caused to be painted at his Expence on the Walls of the Cloister of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London[8], the Dance of Machabray, or Dance of Death[9]; and it is more than probable that 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. One Macaber, a French or German Poet, but of what Æra is uncertain, wrote in German a Poem on the Subject of Death’s Dance, which, in Consequence of this Circumstance, is not seldom from him called The Dance of Macaber[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 of Hartmannus 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 in A 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 the Imagines 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 of Holbein, a Fact which we mean hereafter to inquire into.
Papillon, in his Traité historique et pratique de la Gravure en Bois, 8vo. 1766, Tom. I. P. 166, informs us, that Holbein, having arrived to a great Degree of Perfection in Painting, was employed by a Magistrate of Basil to paint a Dance of Death in 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 unfortunately Papillon here speaks without sufficient Attention; for the Painting at Basil, as may be learnt from Merian’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 on the same Idea, and suggested by the Original, than as a Copy from it.