Babenhausen dance of death
The Babenhausen Dance of Death is a cycle of images in the cemetery chapel of St. Maria in Babenhausen , built in 1722 , in the Unterallgäu district in Bavaria . It was created around 1722 and consists of seven pictures on both gallery parapets. The painter of the dance of death and the frescoes in the chapel is not clearly known. The pictures may have been created by Michael Niggl from Hiltenfingen. Copper engravings from a work by the Roman Catholic preacher Abraham a Sancta Clara († 1709), which was first published posthumously in 1710, served as a template for the dance of death .
Picture cycle
The Babenhausen dance of death is not a dance of death in the sense that death dances in various forms with those marked by death. Rather, it is a sequence of seven thematically related images of death. Three of them are on the upper gallery , the remaining four on the lower gallery . The painter varied the motifs of the dance of death in comparison to the copperplate engraving. The pictures in the chapel are done in strong colors, in contrast to the original. The other frescoes and depictions in the chapel also revolve around the theme of death. The dance of death in the narrower sense, however, only includes the representations on the gallery parapets.
Pope and Death
The picture in the middle of the upper gallery largely follows the template. Death is about to destroy a pillar with a tiara with an ax. A subtle difference in the motif is the hand position of death. In the original, death grips the column in his hand, but in the dance of death he is supported on the column, which is criss-crossed with cracks. In the background a church facade is shown in spatial depth. In two niches of this facade there are figures of a man with a sword in hand and a woman. Despite the missing key, it is believed that the male figure is the apostle Peter . Then it would make sense to interpret the female figure as Ecclesia , although the representation does not have the typical iconographic attributes. The death of Pope Clement XI occurs at the time when the picture was created . († 1721). However, this circumstance should not have had any influence on the representation, rather the picture follows the old dance of death scheme. The picture bears the following inscriptions in Latin and German:
"Yes governor on earth / must be given to me"
What the coffin tells you
The basic structure of the picture at the top left of the gallery follows the template, but was in some cases heavily adapted by the artist. In place of the emperor, a weeping empress stands at the coffin . The crown of the dead man in the coffin can no longer be seen. With the left foot on the coffin, death appears. He is holding a scythe on the left and an hourglass on the right . It is not clear whether the hourglass indicates that the time for the dead has expired or is to be interpreted as a reminder to the grieving empress that the hour of her death will also come. The following text is on the left side of the picture:
"You are not known anymore / Who you used to be"
Prelate and death
Only the scales are the matching motif of the original and the picture Prelate and Death on the right on the upper gallery parapet. Death, represented as a skeleton with a death sheet, holds the scales in his right hand. In one scale there is a bishop's miter ( Inful ) and a cardinal's hat ( Galero ), which are weighed against a scythe and a crown in the other scale. The left hand of death points to this scale. Between death and the tablet on the right is a tree stump with a skull on it, through which a snake winds. Following the template, mountains and an open landscape can be seen in the background. The left edge of the picture is again different. At the left edge of the picture, in contrast to the original, part of a church facade with hanging, diagonally crossed bones is shown. The following inscriptions can be found in the right third of the picture:
"Also inful and hat / death does not spare."
Child and death
This depiction is intended to show the mercilessness of death particularly clearly. Death rests on a spade with his right forearm while he stands next to the child in the cradle. In his left hand Death holds a toy over the cradle, which the child no longer pays attention to. The child's gaze is already emptied and reflects death. The picture shows the two inscriptions:
"Even the cradles / is a staircase to death."
Daily death - Eternal life
The painting depicts a monk sitting on a stool or bench, holding a skull in both hands and looking carefully at it. He is sitting in front of a small table or altar, which is covered with a fabric that falls over the sides of the table. A crucifix facing the monk is placed on the table . The painter von Babenhausen only deviates from the original in a few details.
"I consider what still has to be / So ask little about the earth."
Painter and death
Following the copperplate engraving, a painter is shown in front of an easel . Behind it stands Death, who with his right hand takes the painting he just made from the easel. Compared to the original, where the painter portrays an elderly man, the easel shows a portrait of a woman. As with the other pictures, there is architectural painting in the background. The main scene is flanked by two pillars. On the left of the picture, next to the column, there is a pallet hanging on the wall. In the right third there is a male figure in a wall niche. The figure is holding a palm branch in its hand . In front of it on the floor stands the painter's painting tray, with a skull in place of a finished picture.
"All art is in favor / and in death without favor"
Old age and death
The Latin text in the upper banner refers to a template that the artist von Babenhausen did not take up in the picture. In the engraving model for the copied inscription, a young man sits in front of a censer from which smoke rises. The Latin inscription refers to this scene with reference to the Bible passage in Psalm 102: My days have faded like smoke, my limbs have been burned as if by fire. The painting on the far right on the lower gallery balustrade shows a rich man lying in bed. The wealth is illustrated by the canopy over the bed, the embroidered bedspread and the two cups on the table in front of the bed. This representation largely follows a template by Abraham a Sancta Clara, but the Latin saying ( Sir 41.1 EU ) used there was not adopted.
"Old age, good and good, / passed away like a vain world."
literature
- Hermann Kirchhoff: The dance of death at Babenhausen . Ed .: Hans Frei, Wolfgang Haberl. Anton H. Konrad, Weißenhorn 1984, ISBN 3-87437-213-8 .
- Hans Georg Wehrens: The dance of death in the Alemannic language area. "I have to do it - and don't know what". Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-7954-2563-0 , pp. 231 ff .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, p. 10.
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, p. 63.
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, p. 12.
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, p. 26.
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, pp. 33–34.
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, p. 75.
- ^ Heinrich Habel: District Illertissen. Bavarian art monuments, brief inventory. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1967.
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, pp. 35, 76.
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, pp. 34–36.
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, pp. 36–37.
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, pp. 37–39.
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, pp. 39, 54.
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, pp. 54–55.
- ↑ Kirchhoff / Frei / Haberl, pp. 56–57.
Coordinates: 48 ° 8 ′ 41.9 ″ N , 10 ° 15 ′ 28.2 ″ E