The Dance of Death, or Danse Macabre in French, is a late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: whether rich and powerful or poor and helpless, the dance we do with Death unites us all. The earliest visual record is from the cemetery of the Church of the Holy Innocents in Paris (1424-25), although it no longer exists. Other artists, including Bernt Notke, Vincent of Kastav, John of Kastav, and Pieter Brueghel the Elder addressed the subject in their art. My favorite treatment, reproduced here, is the wood cuts designed by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) in 1526 while he was in...
The Dance of Death, or Danse Macabre in French, is a late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: whether rich and powerful or poor and helple...
