02687cam a22003613u 4500 76835 UtSlPG 20260610134759.0 m cr n 260607r20251922utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d UtSlPG de iso639-1 PN Stammler, Wolfgang, 1886-1965 Die Totentänze Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 2025 1 online resource : multiple file formats text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Bibliothek der Kunstgeschichte ; Bd. 47. Release date is 2025-09-07 Peter Becker and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) "Die Totentänze by Wolfgang Stammler" is a concise art-historical study written in the early 20th century. It examines the medieval and later “Dance of Death” tradition, outlining its religious origins, visual forms, and didactic purpose while tracing how the motif evolved from church-wall cycles to prints and books and then into modern art. The book opens with the medieval mindset of pious vigilance before death and the folk belief that the dead dance and draw the living into their ranks, a warning the clergy turned into moral instruction. It distinguishes two main image types: an earlier, solemn, processional dance anchored by preaching and biblical scenes, and a later, livelier, often grotesque dance in which animated corpses seize their partners; key cycles in France, Germany, and beyond illustrate both strands. The author then follows the theme into manuscripts and blockbooks with captioned dialogues, where pairing a dead figure with a living one paved the way for the personified Death, culminating in the Renaissance with Holbein’s decisive reinterpretation of Death interrupting everyday life. Finally, the survey sketches the motif’s persistence through Baroque and Rococo variants to 19th- and early 20th-century renewals (including responses to war), and closes with a brief anthology of examples and images, ending on a lyrical reflection about death’s abiding presence. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Originally published: Leipzig: Verlag von E. A. Seemann, 1922 Dance of death Death in literature Death in art Tietze, Hans, 1880-1954 Bibliothek der Kunstgeschichte ; Bd. 47. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76835 117560 117560