From The Dance of Death by Hans Holbein

La Danse Macabre, also called Dance of death, La Danza Macabra, or Totentanz, is a late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter ones station in life, the dance of death united all. La Danse Macabre consists of the personified Death leading a row of dancing figures from all walks of life to the grave—typically with an emperor, king, pope, monk, youngster, beautiful girl, all in skeleton-state. They were produced under the impact of the Black Death, reminding people of how fragile their lives were and how vain the glories of earthly life were. From the Dance of Death by Hans Holbein the Younger ( 1491). ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... An allegory (from Greek αλλος, allos, other, and αγορευειν, agoreuein, to speak in public) is a figurative representation conveying a meaning other than and in addition to the literal. ... Death is either the cessation of life in a living organism or the state of the organism after that event. ... This dog has been dressed in human accessories for humorous effect. ... Grave has multiple meanings: A grave (SAMPA: [greIv]) is a place for the dead, see tomb, burial, grave (burial) A grave accent (SAMPA: [gra:v] (grahv) or [greIv]) is also a type of diacritical mark (as in French crème de la crème). ... Emperor is also a Norwegian black metal band; see Emperor (band). ... A monarch is a type of ruler or head of state. ... The Pope is the Catholic Bishop and patriarch of Rome, and head of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches. ... A Roman Catholic monk A monk is a person who practices monasticism, adopting a strict religious and ascetic lifestyle, usually in community with others following the same path. ... Skeleton is also a winter sport: see skeleton (sport). ... The Black Death (more recently known as the Black Plague) was a devastating epidemic that first struck Europe in the mid-14th century (1347-1350), when it was estimated to have killed about a third of Europes population. ... See life (disambiguation) for other senses of the word. ...

The earliest artistic example is from the frescoed cemetery of the Church of the Holy Innocents in Paris (1424). There are also works by Konrad Witz in Basel (1440), Bernt Notke in Lübeck (1463) and woodcuts by Hans Holbein the Younger (1538). A XIV Century fresco featuring Saint Sebastian Note: Fresco is the NATO reporting name of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17. ... Basel (English traditionally: Basle [ba:l], German: Basel [ba:z@l], French Bâle [ba:l], Italian Basilea [bazilE:a]) is Switzerlands third most populous city (188,000 inhabitants in the canton of Basel-City as of 2004; the 690,000 inhabitants in the conurbation stretching across the immediate... Statistics State: Schleswig-Holstein District: Independent city Area: 214. ... Hans Holbein the Younger (c. ...

The final shots of the film The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman depict a kind of Danse Macabre. Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal) is a 1957 film directed by Ingmar Bergman, most notable for the scene in which a medieval knight (played by Max von Sydow) plays chess with the personification of Death, with his life resting on the outcome of the game. ... Ingmar Bergman (born July 14, 1918) is a Swedish film director. ...

Israil Bercovici claims that the Danse Macabre originated among Sephardic Jews in 14th century Spain (Bercovici, 1992, p. 27). Israil (Israel) Bercovici (1921–1988) served the State Jewish Theater of Romania as a dramaturg, playwright, director, and historian from 1955 to 1982; he also wrote Yiddish-language poetry. ... In the strictest sense, a Sephardi (ספרדי, Standard Hebrew Səfardi, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄ardî; plural Sephardim: ספרדים, Standard Hebrew Səfardim, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄ardîm) is a Jew original to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal: ספרד, Standard Hebrew Səfárad, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄áraḏ / Səp̄āraḏ), or whose ancestors were among the Jews expelled from... (13th century - 14th century - 15th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was that century which lasted from 1301 to 1400. ... The Kingdom of Spain or Spain (Spanish and Galician: Reino de España or España; Catalan: Regne dEspanya; Basque: Espainiako Erresuma) is a country located in the southwest of Europe. ...

See also

• Memento mori
• Vanitas

Memento mori is a Latin phrase that means Remember that you must die. ... Vanitas by Pieter Claesz Vanitas is a term referring to the arts, learning and time. ...

References

• James M. Clark. The Dance of Death in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, 1950.
• Israil Bercovici. O sută de ani de teatru evriesc în România ("One hundred years of Yiddish/Jewish theater in Romania"), 2nd Romanian-language edition, revised and augmented by Constantin Măciucă. Editura Integral (an imprint of Editurile Universala), Bucharest (1998). ISBN 9739827225.
• André Corvisier. Les danses macabres, Presses Universitaires de France, 1998. ISBN 2130494951.