The Dance of Death.

8.1

those who are best acquainted with the works of Holbeinis appealed to on this occasion. It is, besides, extremelyprobable that the anonymous painter or designer of theDance might have been employed also by the Frellons toexecute a set of subjects for the Bible previously to hisDeath, and that Holbein was afterwards engaged to com-plete the work.

A comparison of the 8th subject in the " Simulachres,&c." with that in the Bible for Esther i. n. where thecanopy ornamented with fleurs-de-lis is the same in both,will contribute to strengthen the above conjecture, as willboth the cuts to demonstrate their Gallic origin. It ismost certain that the king sitting at table in the Simulachresis intended for Francis I. which, if any one should doubt,let him look upon the miniature of that king, copied atp. 214 in Clarke's "Repertorium bibliographicum," from adrawing in a French MS. belonging to M. Beckford, orat a wood-cut in fo. xcxix b. of " L'histoire de Primaleonde Grece," Paris, 1550, folio, where the art in the latter willbe found to resemble very much that in the " Simulachres."The portraits also of Francis by Thomas De Leu, Boissevin,and particularly that in the portraits of illustrious menedited by Beza at Geneva, may be mentioned for the likepurpose.

The admission in the course of the preceding remarksthat Holbein might have been employed in some of theadditional cuts that appeared in the editions of the LyonsDance of Death which followed that of 1538, may seem at

the maner of an Epystle wryten by the famous clerk, Doctor UrbanusRegius, &c." printed by Gwalter Lynne, 1548, 241x10, there is a cut inthe same style of art of Christ attended by his disciples, and pointing toa fugitive monk, whose sheep are scattered, and some devoured by awolf. Above and below are the words, "John x. Ezech. xxxiiii. Mich. v.I am the good shepehearde. A good shepehearde geveth his lyfe forthe shype. The hyred servaunt flyeth, because he is an hered servaunt,and carethnot for the shepe." On the cut at bottom, hans holbein.There is a fourth cut of this kind in the British Museum collection withChrist brought before Pilate ; and perhaps Holbein might have intendedl. series of small engravings for the New Testament; but all these are ina simple outline and very different from the cuts in the Dance of Death,or Lyons Bible. It might be difficult to refer to any other engravingsbelonging to Holbein after the above year.