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 "Basel's famous Totentanz  or Dance of Death was painted during the Council of Basel (1431-1448), possibly under the influence of the plague epidemic of 1439. The 60-m-long mural painted onto the inside wall of the cemetery of the Dominican convent showed 40 mortals locked in an encounter with Death. All that now remains of that work [Konrad Witz or his circle, Basel ca. 1435-1440, Tempura on plaster] are the 19 fragments that were saved when it was torn down in 1805 ... The Basel Dance of Death was one of the first, and still counts as one of the most important examples of the momento mori pictures, which spread throughout Europe from the 15th century onwards, being especially common in the monasteries of the mendicant orders." 'Basel Dance of Death: The Herald'  in Painting and Graphic Art, Historisches Museum Basel <hmb.ch/en/museums/objects-in-the-collection/details/s/basel-dance-of-death-the-herald> BASLER TOTENTANZ  ――  Rescued remnants from origina...

  "The earliest known representation of the danse macabre dates from 1424, when a mural representing the Dance of Death was painted on the external walls of the Cemetery of Holy Innocents in Paris. Although the walls and the paintings have long since been destroyed, the images are preserved in the woodcuts of Guyot Marchant's edition of the Dance Macabre , published in 1485. The authorship of the poem accompanying the illustrations has never been conclusively established, although from an early date it was ascribed to Jean Gerson, chancellor of the Sorbonne, and indeed its didactic tone is strongly reminiscent of the sermons for which Gerson was so famous. If not Gerson himself, it is probable that the author was a member of the theologian's circle. Marchant's book quickly attained great popularity ... The original edition sold out almost immediately, and was followed in 1486 by an expanded edition. It is apparent ... that the author of the poem and the artist who crea...