Saltus Mortis in Valvasor’s Theatrum Mortis Humanae Tripartitum. A Copy of Holbein’s Dance of Death?

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Theatrum mortis humanae tripartitum (1682) by Johann Weichard Valvasor is an illustrated moralizing book on the vanity of human life in three parts: the first one - Saltus mortis - follows the traditional iconography of the Dance of Death although it introduces some interesting novelties; the second part - Varia genera mortis - describes the deaths of famous men and women, the third part - Poenae damnatorum - is a compilation of various images depicting the torments of damned souls in hell. The one hundred and twenty-one copper plate engravings represent an important contribution to the iconography of Death in the 17th century art and literature. The fifty-four engravings of Saltus mortis are often unjustly designated as copies of the famous Dance of Death by Hans Holbein the Younger (first edition in 1538) although they are actually modeled on the woodcuts in Imagines mortis by Arnold Birckmann published in Cologne in 1555. The comparative analysis of Valvasor, Birckmann, and Holbein reveals that the engravings of Saltus mortis introduce significant changes in the iconography of the Dance macabre which appear to be the result of the integration of the Dance of Death into the new context of Theatrum mortis. While in Holbein’s and in Birckmann’s Dance of Death the social criticism, irony, and a fine satire play an important role, Valvasor concentrates on the phenomenon of inevitability and omnipotence of Death that rules the world unhindered by any power, human or divine.