The Dance of Death

“ He observes, that the Dance of Death at the Innocents, having been commenced in August and finished at the ensuing Lent, could not possibly be represented by living persons, but was only a painting, the large dimensions of which required six months to complete it; and that a single Death must, in the other case, have danced with every individual belonging to the scene. ”

“ The Dance of Death is not a revel, and in it Death does not dance at all. A Dance of Death, or a Dance Macabre, as it was called, is a succession of isolated pictures, all informed with the same motive, it is true, but each independent of the others, and consisting of a group, generally of but two figures, one of which is the representative of Death. ”

“ The Dance of Death.―The fantastic humour of the Middle Ages found dramatic and spectacular expression in the Dance of Death, in which all classes, from the pope and princes to the beggars, in turn converse with death. It was introduced into Germany and France in the beginning of the 14th century, with the view of raising men out of the pleasures and troubles of life. ”

“ How still these lovely tossing limbs shall lie,
And the bright laughter and the panting breath;
And yet, before such beauty and such strength,
Once more, as always when the dance is high,
I am rebuked that I believe in death. ”

“ Mortality lost all its terrors in this earnest search for something more than the ordinary ministrations of the faith could bestow; and in France and England the hideous spectacles called the Dance of Death were frequent. ”

“ In a masked dance it is easy to give a death-blow between the shoulders. Two crowds meet and laugh and shout and mingle almost inextricably, and if a shriek of pain should arise, it is not noticed in the din, and when they part, if one should stagger and fall bleeding to the ground, who can tell who has given the blow? ”

“ Formerly called Pardon Church-Yard, about which, says Weever, Ancient Funeral Monuments, 4to Edition, 1767, P. 168, “was artificially and richly painted, the Dance of Death commonly called the Dance of Paul’s; the Picture of Death leading all Estates.” ”

“ Death demolishes a group of minstrels, from one of whom he has taken a lute. “Viximus gaudentes, nunc morimur tristes et flentes.”
24. Death leads a hermit, followed by other persons. “Forte dies hec est ultima, vado mori.”
This Dance is also found in the Horæ printed by Godar, Vostre, and Gilles Hardouyn, but with occasional variations, as to size and other matters, in the different blocks which they respectively used. The same designs have also been adopted, and in a very singular style of engraving, in a work printed by Antony Verard, that will be noticed elsewhere. ”

“ So the web of fate was spun, and men who thought they were directing the destiny of the world were merely caught in those woven threads like puppets tied to strings and made to dance. It was the old Dance of Death which has happened before in the folly of mankind. ”

“ 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 in carvings in wood in the choirs of churches. Not a single instance can be produced. ”

“ Death again attempts to tune up his fiddle, with frenzied haste, and the dance grows in speed and impetuous power. Later it is interrupted by a lyric intermezzo, brief but pathetically sweet. It seems to be a plaintive lament played in a momentary pause of the dancing, expressing the sad memories and hopeless longings of the dancers, the real mood which underlies the forced gaiety of this wild revel. ”

“ The [Pg 174] first cut exhibits a sort of Death’s dance, in eight small compartments. 1. A woman in bed just delivered of a child, with which Death is running away. 2. A man sitting at a table, Death seizes him behind, and pulls him over the bench on which he is sitting. 3. Death drowning a man in a river. 4. Flames of fire issue from a house, Death tramples on a man endeavouring to escape. 5. Two men fighting, one of whom pierces the other with his sword. The wounded man is seized by Death, the other by the Devil. 6. A man on horseback is seized by Death also mounted behind. ”

“ When Horror comes the way that Beauty went.
O irresistible, with fleshless face,
Say to these dancers in their dazzled race:
“Proud lovers with the paint above your bones,
Ye shall taste death, musk-scented skeletons! ”

“ 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. ”

“ Death leading the old man, followed by a child; the fool; the wise man, as an astrologer, led by Death. On the spectator’s left hand, Death bringing a man before a judge; with the motto, “The greatest judge that sits in honour’s seat, must come to grave, where’t boots not to intreate.” A man and woman in a brothel, Death behind; with the motto, “Leave, wanton youth, thou must no longer stay; if once I call all mortals must obey.” On the opposite side, the Miser and Death; the motto, “Come, worldling, come, gold hath no power to save, leave it thou shalt, and dance with me to grave.” ”

“ It exhibits Death armed with a spade, and overturning and putting to flight a variety of persons. At bottom, four stanzas of Dutch verses, beginning “Dits de vrees van alle man.”
A large allegorical oblong engraving, 181⁄2 by 13, by Peter Nolpe, after Peter Potter. On the left, a figure of religion, an angel hovering over her with a crown and palm branch. She points to several figures bearing crosses, and ascending a steep hill to heaven. On the right, the Devil blowing into the ear of a female, representing worldly vanity. In the middle, Death beating a drum to a man and woman dancing. ”

“ It is impossible to exceed the beauty and skill that are manifested in this fine piece of art. The figures are, a king, queen, warrior, a young woman, a monk, and an infant, all of whom most unwillingly accompany Death in the dance. The despair of the king, the dejection of the queen, accompanied by her little dog, the terror of the soldier who hears the drum of Death, the struggling of the female, the reluctance of the monk, and the sorrow of the poor infant, are depicted with equal spirit and veracity. The original drawing is in the public library at Basle, and ascribed to Holbein. ”

“ III. A Dance of Death, consisting of eight subjects, engraved on copper by an unknown artist, whose mark is . 1. Death beating a drum, precedes a lady and gentleman accompanied by a little dog. 2. Death playing on a stickado, precedes a lady and gentleman dancing back to back, below an hour-glass. 3. Death, with an hour-glass in his right hand, lays his left on the shoulder of a gentleman taking hold of a lady with his right hand, and carrying a hawk with his left. ”

“ Death, habited as a beau, conducts a lady followed by her maid to a carriage in waiting.
XIII. The British Dance of Death, exemplified by a series of engravings from drawings by Van Assen, with explanatory and moral essays. Printed by and for George Smeeton, Royal Arcade, Pall Mall. 8vo. no date. With a frontispiece designed by Geo. Cruikshank, representing a crowned sitting Death, holding a scythe in one hand, and with the other leaning on a globe. This is circular in the middle. Over it two small compartments of Death striking an infant in the cradle, and a sick man. ”

“ When we think of the kind of ritual from which tragedy emerged, the lament for a dead god, we can see how well a dance was fitted, in primitive times, to express the emotions that we call tragic.
This dance gradually grew into drama; how it did so is an old story. Into the inarticulate mass of emotion and dumb show which is the Dance there comes some more articulate element. There comes some one who relates, or definitely enacts, the actual death or "pathos" of the hero, while the Chorus goes on as before expressing emotion about it. ”

“ THE QUEEN. She has just issued from her palace, when Death unexpectedly appears and forcibly drags her away. Her jester, in whose habiliments Death has ludicrously attired himself, endeavours in vain to protect his mistress. A female attendant is violently screaming. Death holds up his hour-glass to indicate the arrival of the fatal hour. “Mulieres opulentæ surgite, et audite vocem meam: post dies et annum, et vos conturbemini.” ”

“ THE DRUNKARDS. They are assembled in a brothel, and intemperately feasting. Death pours [Pg 261] liquor from a flaggon into the mouth of one of the party. “Ne inebriemini vino, in quo est luxuria.” Ephes. v.
43. THE IDEOT FOOL. He is mocking Death, by putting his finger in his mouth, and at the same time endeavouring to strike him with his bladder-bauble. Death smiling, and amused at his efforts, leads him away in a dancing attitude, playing at the same time on a bag-pipe. ”

“ Death enters at a door, holding a circle in one hand and a dart with the other, in a menacing attitude. At bottom, these Latin lines:
Namque ubi Mors trucibus supra caput adstitit armis,
Hei quam tunc nullo pondere nummus erit.
The same in Dutch. Upright, 81⁄2 by 6. This print was afterwards copied in a reduced form into a book of emblems, with the title, “Stulte hoc nocte repetent animam tuam,” with verses in Latin, French, and German.
A small anonymous wood engraving of five Deaths [Pg 201] dancing in a circle; the motto, DOODEN DANS OP LESTEM, i. e. the last Dance of Death. ”

“ The remarks in the course of this Essay on a supposed German poet, under the name of Macaber, and the discussion relating to Holbein’s connection with the Dance of Death, may perhaps be found interesting to the critical reader only; but every admirer of ancient art will not fail to be gratified by an intimate acquaintance with one of its finest specimens in the copy which is here so faithfully exhibited.
In the latest and best edition of some new designs for a Dance of Death, by Salomon Van Rusting, published by John George Meintel at Nuremberg, 1736, 8vo. ”

“ Long before printing appeared, the Dances of Death took the lead; they were some consolation for the wretched against their powerful masters, the revenge of the rabble against the king; they may be seen painted, sculptured, illuminated, when engraving was not there to multiply their use; they may be seen largely displayed on walls, sombre, frightful, at Dresden, Leipzig, Erfurt, Berne, Lucerne, Rouen, Amiens, and Chaise-Dieu. It was the great human equality, attempted first by the French, then by the inimitable Holbein.
Fig. 32.—Dance of Death, said to be by Verard. ”

“ In these designs, which are wholly different from the dull and oftentimes disgusting Macaber Dance, which is confined, with little exception, to two figures only, we have the most interesting assemblage of characters, among whom the skeletonized Death, with all the animation of a living person, forms the most important personage; sometimes amusingly ludicrous, occasionally mischievous, but always busy and characteristically occupied. ”

“ In the middle, a music-master teaching a lady the lute, Death near them holding a violin and music-book. On the left, in another apartment, Death in a dancing attitude, with a double bagpipe, leads an aged [Pg 200] man with a rosary in his left hand, and leaning on a staff with his right. At bottom, three stanzas of French verses, beginning “La Mort qui n’a point d’oreilles.”
A very small wood print, that seems to have belonged to some English book, about 1600. It represents Death behind a female, who sees his reflected image in a mirror which she holds, instead of her own. ”

“ At each extremity of this division is a figure of Death sitting on a monument. The verses, in double columns, are placed between two borders with compartments. That on the right a scull crowned with a mitre; an angel with a censer; time carrying off a female on his back; Death with an infant in his arms; Death on horseback with a flag; Death wrestling with a man. The border on the left has a scull with a regal crown; an angel dancing with a book; Death carrying off an old man; Death leading a child; Death with a naked corpse; Death digging a grave. ”

“ It is certainly not a dance, but rather, with slight exception, a series of admirable groups of persons of various characters, among whom Death is appropriately introduced as an emblem of man’s mortality. ”

“ In a second vision Death appears to the author, accompanied by Fate, War, Famine, and Mortality. All classes of society are formed into a Dance, as the author chooses to call it, and the work is accompanied with twenty-one very singular engravings on wood, executed in a style perhaps nowhere else to be met with. The designs are the same as those in the second Dance of the Horæ, printed by Higman for Vostre, No. ”

“ This Dance was painted upon the wall of the churchyard of the Dominican Convent in Great Bâle, by order of the very Ecclesiastical Council of which our Aeneas Sylvius was Secretary, and in commemoration of a plague which visited the town during the sitting of that Council, and carried off many of its members.
What is a Dance of Death? and why should Death be painted dancing? ”

“ Dance of death, a series of allegorical paintings symbolising the universal power of death, represented as a skeleton; Dance upon nothing, to be hanged.—Lead a person a dance, to set him on an undertaking under false hopes: to delude.—Merry dancers, the aurora. ”