TJie Dance of Death.

Ill

V. A set of iiirty etchings by Wenceslaus Hollar, withinelegant frames or borders designed by Diepenbecke, of whichthere are three varieties. The first of these has at the top acoffin with tapers; at bottom, Death lying prostrate. Thesides have figures of time and eternity. At bottom, Ab.Diepenbecke inv. W. Hollar fecit. The second has at top aDeath's head crowned with the Papal tiara ; at bottom, aDeath's head with cross-bones on a tablet, accompanied bya saw, a globe, armour, a gun, a drum, &c. On the sides areHercules and Minerva. At bottom, Ab. Diepenbecke inv. W.Hollar fecit, 1651. The third has at top a Death's head, anhour-glass winged between two boys ; at bottom, a Death'shead and cross-bones on a tablet between two boys holdinghour-glasses. On the sides, Democritus and Heraclitus withfools' caps. This border has no inscription below. As theseetchings are not numbered, the original arrangement of themcannot be ascertained. The names of Diepenbecke and Hol-lar are at the bottom of several of the borders, &c. On the

subject of the Queen is the mark IJJU t and on three othersthat of ^SK^f ^his * s tne ^ rst an< 3 most desirable state ofthe work, the borders having afterwards fallen into thehands of Petau and Van Morle, two foreign printsellers,whose impressions are very inferior. It has not beenascertained what became of these elegant additions, butthe work afterwards appeared without them, and with the

additional mark ^Q» u on every print, and intended for" Holbein invenit." It is very certain that Hollar himself didnot place this mark on the prints; he has never introducedit in any of his copies from Holbein, always expressing

that painter's name in these several ways : IXT, TfT/.Pfo ' niHVt SJl^^cStu pi nx tt> *L Holbein inv. H. Holbeininventor. On one of his portraits from the Arundelcollection he has placed " Jfffjtffiein, incidit in lignum"

It is not impossible that Hollar may have copied a bustcarved in wood, or some other material, by Holbein, asAlbert Diirer and other great artists are known to havepractised sculpture in this manner. No copy, however, of