Art, obsession, and identity
The Danse Macabre, or Dance of Death, is a literary or pictorial representation of a procession or dance of both living and dead figures. This artistic genre of allegory on the ubiquity of death emerged during the late Middle Ages, from the early 1400s to the 1600s.
The Holy Innocents' Cemetery was closed because of overuse in 1780. The remaining corpses were exhumed and transported in 1787 to the unused subterranean quarries near Montparnasse known as the Catacombs—today one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.
The first known Danse Macabre depicted on a wall comes from around 1424 in the form of a mural at the charnel house at Holy Innocents' Cemetery in Paris. The wall was destroyed in 1669, but not before German illustrator Féodor Hoffbauer had captured the scene for posterity, including the mural.
Examples of the Danse Macabre represented in art can be admired across Europe. For example, in the Church of St. Mary of the Rocks at Beram in Croatia is a series of stunning frescos painted by Vincent de Kastav in 1474.
The 'Dance of Death,' a richly executed 15th-centuy painting by Bernt Notke, is on display at St. Nicholas Church in Lübeck, northern Germany.
A detail from the Danse Macabre, a 15th-century fresco by John of Kastav (Johannes de Castua),is set on the walls of the Church of the Holy Trinity at Hrastovlje in Slovenia.
Even more celebrated are Hans Holbein the Younger's Dance of Death series of drawings produced in 1526. Holbein's 41 drawings were cut into wood and published in book form in 1538.
The public's fascination with the dancing dead continued into the 20th century. This vintage 1910 illustration of the Dance of Death is represented by a skeleton dancing with a young woman in a dark room populated by other dead bodies.
The ancient Spreuer Bridge, which spans the Reuss river in the historical town center of Lucerne, is much more than meets the eye.
The pediments of the Spreuer Bridge contain paintings in the interior triangular frames of the Danse Macabre, known as Totentanz in German.
While admiring the interior of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Vilnius, look for the reminder of the universality of death in the form of the Grim Reaper.
This exquisite piece of sculpture representing a scene from the Danse Macabre is carved out of ivory and dates back to the early 18th century and southern Germany. It's on display at the Schnütgen Museum in Cologne.
Accomplished 17th-century Bohemian graphic artist Wenceslaus Hollar produced another astonishing set of drawings from the Dance of Death, work he completed in 1651.
'Death with the Bride' is one the remarkable 19th-century wooden panels depicting the Danse Macabre by Johann Anton Falger on display inside Martinskapelle (Chapel of Saint Martin) in Elbigenalp, Austria.
The well-preserved 15th-century Danse Macabre fresco by Giacomo Borlone de Buschis can be admired inside the the Oratory of the Disciplines in Clusone.
The late 15th-century Danse Macabre mural decorating the walls of the Church of St. Germanus in La Ferté-Loupière has put this little village in north-central France on the cultural map.
The facade of the 14th-century Church of San Vigilio in Pinzolo greets visitors with a detailed and ghoulish Danse Macabre fresco.
As a personification of death, the Danse Macabre would sometimes be used in satire. In this 1835 caricature called 'Journey to Eternity - First Step,' men and women of various nationalities follow a skeleton wearing a French soldier's hat. It's seen as France leading her colonies and her allies towards death.
Surviving smudges of a 15th-century Danse Macabre fresco can be identified in the Eglise Notre-Dame de Kernascléden in Brittany.
Another celebrated example of the Dance of Death in film is the scene in Ingmar Bergman's 'The Seventh Seal' in which Max von Sydow's character plays chess with the personification of Death, who has come to take his life.
In 1875, French composer Camille Saint-Saens debuted 'Danse macabre,' the most famous piece of music inspired by the Dance of Death. At first public reaction was muted, with many coming away feeling anxious after hearing a screeching violin and a xylophone played as if the musician were striking a skeleton's ribcage.
In this spoof publicity photograph to promote the American crime-comedy television series 'Bones,' the show's stars, Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz, pose with dancing skeletons.
As early as 1912, cinema was depicting the strange medieval tradition of waltzing with the deceased in 'The Dance of the Dead.' This German silent film starred popular Danish actress Asta Nielsen.
Every year, the Catalonian town of Verges celebrates Holy Thursday with its Dansa de la Mort, probably the last remaining Dance of Death in Europe, performed without interruption since the Middle Ages.
Sources: (Britannica) (The Atlantic)
To promote their 2003 album release 'Dance of Death,' English heavy metal band Iron Maiden commenced their Dance of Death World Tour. Lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson is seen flying the flag in the face of mortality.
An early example of the Danse Macabre in literature is that depicted in a French Book of Hours, published c. 1420. Books of Hours contained sets of prayers and were the most popular books for laypeople in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Visually appealing, the manuscript also contained illustrations of hell as reminders that behavior on Earth would determine the destination of the soul.
French artist James Tissot explored the subject of death in his 1860 'The Dance of Death,' in which a line of human dancers accompanied by skeletons flank a cadaver.
French printer Guy Marchant is noted for producing five editions of the Danse Macabre in 1486. Marchant's manuscript replicates each figure in the procession as well as the accompanying verses.
In Europe in the late Middle Ages, a rather ghoulish tradition emerged—the Danse Macabre. Originating in France around 1420, the "Dance of Death" was a medieval allegorical concept of the all-conquering and equalizing power of death. As a literary or pictorial representation of a procession or dance of both living and dead figures, artists depicted people waltzing with decaying corpses and skeletons, to express their fascination with death. Murals illustrating bewildered humans being escorted to their graves by boney dance partners appeared in churches and chapels across Europe. Detailed woodcuts of the Danse Macabre filled books. Later, poetry and music would be composed based on this lurid two-step. And in the 20th century, the Dance of Death even made an appearance in cinema. And guess what! There's a town in Spain that hosts the last remaining Danse Macabre procession in Europe.
Frightened? Intrigued? Disgusted? Click through and learn more.
Would you join the Danse Macabre?
The origins of the spooky Dance of Death
LIFESTYLE Culture
In Europe in the late Middle Ages, a rather ghoulish tradition emerged—the Danse Macabre. Originating in France around 1420, the "Dance of Death" was a medieval allegorical concept of the all-conquering and equalizing power of death. As a literary or pictorial representation of a procession or dance of both living and dead figures, artists depicted people waltzing with decaying corpses and skeletons, to express their fascination with death. Murals illustrating bewildered humans being escorted to their graves by boney dance partners appeared in churches and chapels across Europe. Detailed woodcuts of the Danse Macabre filled books. Later, poetry and music would be composed based on this lurid two-step. And in the 20th century, the Dance of Death even made an appearance in cinema. And guess what! There's a town in Spain that hosts the last remaining Danse Macabre procession in Europe.
Frightened? Intrigued? Disgusted? Click through and learn more.