Danse Macabre

:This article is about La Dance Macabre, the late-medieval allegory. For other meanings of Dance Macabre or Dance of Death, see Danse Macabre (disambiguation).

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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 one's 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.

Related Topics:
Late-medieval - Allegory - Death - Personified death - Grave - Emperor - King - Pope - Monk - Skeleton - Black Death - Earthly life

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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).

Related Topics:
Fresco - Church of the Holy Innocents - Konrad Witz - Basel - Bernt Notke - Lübeck - Hans Holbein the Younger

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The final shots of the film The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman depict a kind of Danse Macabre.

Related Topics:
The Seventh Seal - Ingmar Bergman

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Israil Bercovici claims that the Danse Macabre originated among Sephardic Jews in 14th century Spain (Bercovici, 1992, p. 27).

Related Topics:
Israil Bercovici - Sephardic Jew - 14th century - Spain

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