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Page 11
His sketches of heads, now existing at Kensington, of various people who
lived at the court of Henry VIII., and among them one of that monarch,
are exquisite productions. Imitations of the original drawings have been
published by J. Chamberlaine, fol. Lond. 1792. One picture of Holbein is
supposed to be in Surgeons' Hall. Some wood-cuts to Cranmer's Catechism
(1548) were made by Holbein. Our biographer, who had never seen the work
himself, was led by Walpole [_Anecdotes of Painting_] to believe,
that all the wood-cuts were from Holbein.
With respect to the famous "Dance of Death," the biographer tells us,
what we have already stated, that the painting on the wall of the
church-yard at Basel is not the work of Holbein; the costumes are of a
time anterior to Holbein. There was also a "Dance of Death" painted on
the wall of a convent at Bern by Manuel, who lived a little before
Holbein. Only on the supposition that the "Dance of Death" at Basel was
Holbein's work, could that of Bern be said to be the first of its kind.
But, on comparing the costumes, it appears again, that the "Dance of
Death" at Bern must have been painted subsequently to that at Basel. No
"Dance of Death" of an earlier date was known, until another was
discovered on the wall of a convent of nuns at Klingenthal, on the right
bank of the Rhine, at Basel. This bears the date of 1312, and is
therefore a whole century prior to the other, which cannot have been
painted before the year 1439. It has been supposed, that the idea of the
"Dance of Death" was taken from certain processions very much in vogue
during the middle ages; and it is singular enough, that up to this day,
in funeral processions in Italy, long white robes are used, which wholly
cover the head, with only two holes for the eyes. But the coincidence of
another plague at Basel, which, about the year 1312, destroyed above
11,000 people, renders it more than probable that the artist availed
himself of the impression which such a dreadful mortality must have made
on the minds of all the surviving, to represent how inexorable death
drags to the grave, in terrible sport, rich and poor, high and low,
clergymen and laity.
On the authority of Nieuhoff, a Dutchman, who came over to England with
William III., Mr. Douce asserts, that Holbein had painted the "Dance of
Death" on the walls of Whitehall. Borbonius might then have had in mind
this painting, when he mentioned the "Mors picta" of Holbein; but three
biographers of Holbein, Mander, Sandrart, and Patin, were in England
before Whitehall was destroyed by fire, and make no mention of this
painting, although Mander speaks of other paintings of Holbein,
particularly the portrait of Henry VIII., that were preserved at
Whitehall. Mander states, that he also saw at Whitehall the portraits of
Edward, Maria, and Elizabeth, by Holbein, "die oock ter selver plaetse
te sien zyn."
Sandrart, whose work was published in 1675, also mentions the paintings
of Holbein at Whitehall. Is it credible, that three travellers, two of
whom were distinguished artists themselves, should have been at
Whitehall, and seen there the paintings of Holbein, without taking
notice of the "Dance of Death," if it had been in that place?
Holbein died of the plague in London, 1554.--_Westminster Review_.
* * * * *
When I see the spirit of liberty in action, I see a strong principle at
work; and, this for awhile, is all I can possibly know of it. The wild
gas, the fixed air, is plainly broke loose; but we ought to suspend our
judgment until the first effervescence is a little subsided, till the
liquor is cleared, and until we see something deeper than the agitation
of a troubled and frothy surface. I must be tolerably sure, before I
venture publicly to congratulate men upon a blessing, that they have
really received one.--_Burke_.
* * * * *
If we must lash one another, let it be with the manly strokes of wit and
satire; for I am of the old philosopher's opinion, that if I must suffer
from one or the other, I would rather it should be from the paw of a
lion, than from the hoof of an ass.--_Addison_.
* * * * *
[Illustration: The Central Market, Leeds.]
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