Creation
Created in 1526 Paper Sketch |
This is without a doubt my favorite work. I produced these illustrations while working and living in Basel in 1526, but they were not published until twelve years later in 1538. The designs were mine, but the woodblocks which were created from them are now commonly attributed to Hans Lutzelberger, since he brought the designs to life. These designs were published as the Les Simulachres & historiees faces de la Mort. I received no credit of my work.
Sidenote here, at how infuriating it is to carefully create forty-one illustrations and to not receive credit for them. Especially when I would call this my favorite work. I am constantly rolling over in my grave because of this. This is one of the few of my works where I subtly inserted my own opinions, as I was infuriated by the abuse of power and immense amount of greed I witnessed at the time. This is yet another reason this work is special to me. The original work consists of forty-one illustrations carved into wood, all relatively small (65x50 mm in size). The sequence begins with religious scenes from the Book of Genesis, and ends with a scene of the Last Judgment. Throughout, Death is seen to meet various peoples, such as the Pope, the King, and the Merchant, and their interaction is expressed in the illustration. These illustrations were so important to me because they were so vastly different from earlier illustrations of Death. I departed from the normal idea of the Dance with Death. I present to you individual scenes of each victim interacting with Death, rather than the round of dancing with Death and the dying. I was certain to vary the landscape and the interior greatly, so as to demonstrate distinct differences between scenes. Each scene does have common threads, though, such as Death taking the victim by surprise and the reaction of the victim being clearly seen. The motif of the hourglass signaling the approaching end is omnipresent. Death meets people from all social classes, though, and passes judgment on everyone. The judgments are typically harsher on the higher end of the social scale due to the thought that they were abusing their power or being greedy. The way I illustrated Death is something worth specific notice. Death has no generalized facial expression, no, or no one emotion that they continually express. Death can be mocking, aggressive, resigned... Death can be any emotion you can express. This was meant to humanize Death, to bring them onto our level as humans, and add to the horror of their impending arrival. The Dance of Death is a medieval allegorical concept of the all powerful death. This representation serves as a pictorial version of the dance of both the living and the dead; the living are arranged in order of their ranks as dead leads them to their grave. Pictures of this scene originated in the late thirteenth century, an attempt to depict the inevitability and impartiality of death. I saw representation after representation of the dance of death, all emphasizing the dance of the figures, but not so much Death's power and interplay into the lives of the figures. That is what I wanted to do in my depiction, show that death not only interfered with leading the newly dead to their graves, but in their life on earth as well. |
The KingSome say this is a depiction of the real life King, others say it is simply a representation of kings everywhere. Will I ever tell? Of course not. One scholar said that it was a clear representation of Francis I, France's first Renaissance monarch. His evidence was the fleur-de-lys motif behind the table where the king sits, and the barett the king is adorning points to his identity. The purpose of this illustration was to show that while the king enjoys his lavish lifestyle of endless amounts of food and drink, Death will still pluck him right up from the table and judge him for his gluttony.
created in 1526 paper sketch |
The MonkIt has been said that I attempted to point out the irony of the monks of my time with this illustration, but I will leave that up to the viewer to decide. Here, I show the monk desperately trying to shield his alms box from Death. Death is shown to be particularly aggressive here, dragging the monk to his dark end. The flow of the garments and the smoke surrounding him are meant to emphasize the panic in the movements of the monk, to show just how desperate he is to save himself.
created in 1526 paper sketch |
The Old WomanThis old woman would be at the lower end of the social scale, someone who was not subject to the sin of gluttony. I drew this woman as being poorly dressed and hunched over to emphasize her low social status. The attitude Death expresses here is very different than the mocking, harshly judging expression seen on the face of Death with the Monk. Here, I would like to draw Death in such a way that it suggests they feel compassion for the woman, as they take her arm and gaze down upon her without any blatant aggression.
created in 1526 paper sketch |