THE DANXE OF DEATH.

25

1538 informs us that the artist of the work h id die 1, leaving some

of the designs unfinished. Holbein lived to 1554-5. There is,however, one reason, beyond Holbein's acknowledged liking for

the subject, for the " Simulachres" being considered his; that bookwas often bound and sold with another " Ilistoriarum VeterisTestamenti Icones " of which the cuts were designed by Holbein,In this collection of Biblical cuts, thj first four of the Dance ofDeath were used, as they appropriately might be.

As there is little foundation for supposing that Holbeindesigned the " Simulachres," so there is as little for presumingthat he engraved them. There is at Basil one single sheet ofalphabetical cuts with a Death Dance, which are similar in styleto those of the unknown dead artist above-mentioned ; the sheetbears the monogram H L, and the words, in German, " HansLutzelburger, Block-cutter, in Basel." Here we have probablythe name of the engraver of the "Simulachres." Holbein mayhave designed some of the additional cuts, and perhaps thisalphabet.

Among the various imitations of the cuts may be mentioned awork by Aldegraver, 1541, which is chiefly noteworthy for itsdifference from its model. Generally the object was to copy asclosely as possible.

The Basil Dance was copied in copper-plate in 1621, by

Merian.

In 1654 was produced at Antwerp a Dance of Death called

11 Death Unmasked." These on the title page are said to be

Holbein's cuts, yet, though there are, in reality, fifteen original

cuts from the " Simulachres " and three others, they are marked

with the initials A P, being those of a celebrated, though now

unknown, artist, who worked in the Low Countries in the 16th

century. Other cuts so marked appear in some of the later editions