Guyot Marchant's 'Danse Macabre' : The 1486 edition woodcut illustrations

 "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 created the illustrations are working in two separate and distinct traditions. The poem, with its sombre, didactic tone, clearly represents an ecclesiastical point of view. The illustrations, on the other hand, bear an affinity to certain conventions associated with the 'theatre profane' ...

The Danse Macabre actually embraces two very different perspectives on death, and this gives rise to the second major opposition in the work ... The deflation of pretension and ambition, swift reversals of fortune, the undercutting of social conventions meant to protect and maintain the status of certain privileged members of society ― all these hallmarks of 'the farce' are to be found in the illustrations of Marchant's Dance Macabre ... The figures of the living in their stiff poses, often ornately costumed according to their social station, bewildered and perplexed by their sudden confrontation with death, and limited in their intelligence and their ability to comprehend their precarious situation, offer perfect targets of mockery ... In this reversal of the social norm, it is the 'weaker' figures who end up controlling the action, manipulating their victims, choreographing the dance ... Those depicted in the Danse, representing the most powerful figures in medieval society ― emperors, kings, popes, cardinals, men of exceptional wealth, prestige, or erudition (astrologers, physicians, lawyers, professors) ― are all undone by nothing more than a naked, grinning corpse."

David A Fein, 2000, 'Guyot Marchant's Dance Macabre: The Relationship between Image and Text', MIRATOR ELOKUU (University of North Carolina), pp 1, 6, 3-4.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO READERS:

1. The following copies of the woodcut illustrations in Marchant's book (1486 edition) are what was available on <commons.wikimedia.org>. I therefore may not have them all.

2. The pages/panels are not necessarily in the same order as the book/mural. They are in roughly (very roughly!)descending order of the social status of the living characters.

3. The French and English names for the living characters in these tableaux are those found in <commons.wikimedia.org>. I have not altered them.

4. The accompanying comments for each image have two sources. The comments in italics are taken directly from the article by DA Fein. The rest, (not in italics) are my own.

5. The idea has been to take full account of the graphics of the earliest wall-painting of danse macabre at Holy Innocents cemetery in Paris, just as medieval passers-by are most likely to have done. This assumes that the immediate impact of the mural was the pictures rather than the text. The major popular impression would therefore have been of bighting social satire, not the sermon.

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"In the first illustration of the book we see the figure of the Acteur seated in a professorial chair, reading from a book which is resting on a lectern ... 'The figure of Authority is quintessentially Parisian. Perhaps descended from preaching street friars, he wears full academic regalia, and behind him stands figuratively the power, both temporal and spiritual, of the University of Paris. Speaking ex cathedra, Authority is backed implicitly by two of the most influential institutions of medieval Paris: the university and the church'."

"I'll take care of those!" The Pope of Rome's holy staff of office and the Holy Roman Emperor's sword and orb of state are of no effect against the power of an egregiously wounded corpse and his scythe-wielding companion. The mightiest in Europe are relieved of the symbols of their greatness by the least and most demeaning of their subjects.

"Early in the work ... (in their contrasting attitudes, the opposition between their actual bodily postures), we see the cardinal and the king enjoined by two corpses to participate in the dance of death. While both the living figures remain relatively immobile ― the cardinal staring with alarm at the hand of the corpse on his sleeve, the king standing rigidly as he holds his sceptre ― the corpse between them assumes a more flexible pose, raising one leg as he prepares to lead the two unwilling subjects into the dance."

A barely shrouded but jauntily confident corpse seizes the processional cross from the pope's representative and takes him by the arm to lead him in the dance, ignoring the legate's coy posture of piety. Meanwhile, his blatantly naked fellow, in a mocking display of courtly manners, takes the hand of the gorgeously costumed duke, insisting that he too accepts the 'invitation' to dance.

Once more, the grotesquely grimacing ghouls give their prey no opportunity to decline, taking the processional cross (knowing the richly mitred and coped religious figure must follow this 'legitimate' symbol of his authority), and poised with bended knee in parody of "May I have the next dance?"

"We see the same contrast in the illustration depicting the bishop and the squire. Again, the posture of the two corpses, especially the one in the middle, suggests a certain naturalness and fluidity of movement, while that of the bishop and squire indicates immobility and even (in the case of the squire) a marked attitude of resistance. By raising one hand in a gesture of refusal, pointing his feet in the opposite direction from those of the corpse, and leaning slightly away from his 'partner', the squire's body language expresses a futile attempt at escape."

"Let me take those (You won't need them any more)." The patriarch and the constable are figures of delegated authority ― the former to lords spiritual and the latter to lords temporal. They are experienced managers who know how the cathedral/diocese or the castle/county really works and probably have spent a lifetime coming to their responsible positions. But without evidence of their lord's trust they are no longer in charge. The corpses render them powerless by placing their hands on the objects that signify their power-by-proxy, the episcopal cross and the ceremonial sword.

A canon is a secular monk, tied not to a monastic order but a bishop's diocese, often in an administrative capacity, running part of the day-to-day business of a wealthy  and diverse organisation. Like most bureaucracy it was considered inefficient and slow and probably corrupt. Note the snail at the canon's feet and the piece of building material (ridge-capping?) on the shoulder of the corpse leading the canon away. The populist reputation of a merchant. on the other hand, was of salesmanship, of buying cheap and selling dear. The corpse in the merchant's case appears to be mimicking the behaviour of an obsequious 'shop-assistant' presenting his wares to a dubious customer. 

"The scene depicting the astrologer and the bourgeois offers another variation on the theme. Like the squire, the astrologer (the figure on the left) takes a stance that clearly indicates resistance. The corpse in the middle again raises one leg and hunches his shoulders as he prepares to pull both of his unwilling partners into the dance. The contrast between the living and the dead includes not only bodily attitude but also facial expression. While the countenance of the living expresses varying degrees of dismay, alarm, fear, and denial, the face of the dead indicates mirth, mockery, and amusement."

The advocate or lawyer is viewed, then as now, as a 'smooth talker' and wily deceiver, so the two corpses are making doubly sure that he does not elude their grasp. The minstrel is also proving hard to convince. Being a troubadour who often travels from job to job (note his knee boots) means keeping his wits close and his instruments closer. He does not like abandoning his lute and bow on the ground.

 

The schoolmaster's books and the soldier's halberd (two-edged axe) are seized by the corpses, whose vigorous postures suggest the urgency of their task. The power of the pedagogue (who provides repetitive doctrinal orthodoxy) and that of the sentry or guard (who provides military order and discipline) are central to maintaining the normal pyramid-shaped hierarchy of medieval society. The plight of the innocent child is poignant.

The first corpse is thrusting his hand down into the robes of the priest, perhaps to establish whether he is mere man or part god. The miracle of the mass taught by the church was that the presence of the anointed minister transformed the humble elements of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The second corpse seems to invite the reluctant or reserved plowman (the key practical person in the village) to watch the exposure of this fraud.

The Carthusian ('Charterhouse') monk holds a reliquary of saint's bones, a ruse which his order uses to lure pilgrims and their offerings to monastic sites. The first corpse leans conspiratorially from behind a pillar, suggesting he is used to shady dealings in dark corners, such as the buying and selling of 'holy relics'. The sergeant appears to be a prissy and easily alarmed character who is more suited to arranging courtly functions than administering 'rough justice'. The second corpse mimics the exaggerated manners of the courtier by crossing his legs below the knees and pointing his toes inwards, as if to say "Please join us sire".

"Towards the end of the Danse Macabre we find an especially revealing woodcut, depicting this time two living figures (the clerc and the hermit) and three corpses. The corpses at either end of the line are preparing to escort their victims to their fate. The corpse between the clerk and the hermit, who has positioned himself in the exact center of the frame, is pausing, however, to take a bow (or so it would appear) The posture of this particular figure ... strongly suggests the bow of an actor who has completed his performance ... reminds us of the various social groups from which actors of the period were drawn: 'Etudients, clercs, rimeurs, acteurs, joueurs, saltimbanques, voleurs' ... The Church, of course, regarded the theatrical companies comprised of these particular social groups with an attitudes ranging from distrust to contempt and condemnation."

The first corpse carries the emblems of his office, a scythe for the slice of death and a spade to dig the grave for burial. The procurator holds a small scroll and has a cloth bag for other legal documents slung over his shoulder. The third corpse grabs the arm of the 'escaping' gaoler as if to say "You too, you are also part of the Law Court system". 

"Any attempt on the part of the living to maintain a semblance of dignity in the face of their impending death is forcefully undercut by the mocking attitude of the corpses. The physician and the lover (a strange juxtaposition!) both become the subject of humiliation. While the physician attempts to study a vial of urine, a corpse holding a spade grabs the doctor's robe at the crotch. Meanwhile, the other corpse, looking back at the effeminate figure of the lover, takes a lilting step as if to mock the lover's somewhat affected manner."

A corpse in a half-shroud or lap-cloth escorts a prayerful pilgrim carrying a long staff for his journey and wearing a leather satchel for his meagre supplies. The second corpse takes charge of the shepherd who is carrying a staff for guiding stock and a small basket of provisions.

Two highly suspect looking ghouls are caught in the act of seizing and making off with two archetypes of unworldly innocence ― a 'poor' friar and an infant child. Neither friar and child are deceived and they both (uselessly) resist.

"In a few cases the living are so preoccupied with their worldly values that they fail to recognise (or pretend not to recognise) the presence of death. The usurer, for example, is so engrossed in his financial transaction that he appears unaware that he has been touched by the hand of Death. The corpse is forced to lean backwards, forcefully and comically pulling the usurer's arm in order to attract his attention."

"Each of the figures holds a musical instrument ― a bagpipe, a portative organ, a harp, and a pipe and tabor. Just as the figure of the Acteur generates one of the prominent voices of the Danse Macabre ― the stern admonishing voice of the theologian ― the four dead musicians become identified with the other 'voice', expressing itself through a combination of mime, gesture, and theatrical pose. Once the two discourses on death have been established, the didactic voice of the preacher and the farcical body language of the corpses, the rest of the work reflects a continuing conflict, as the two vie for primacy ...

One could argue, on one hand, that the image is literally framed by the text, enclosed within the Latin inscription at the top of the page and the longer French stanzas beneath the woodcut ... [the standard page format in Marchant 1486 is:]

... On the other hand, the eye is naturally drawn to the graphic representation of the scene before settling on the verbal version of the confrontation. There is little doubt that the moment of death is rendered far more powerfully and dramatically in the former than in the latter. The text, then, can be seen as relegated to a purely secondary role, a mere corollary of the iconography, reduce in effect to the role of a gloss, an exegetical elaboration on the primary representation of the drama."