The Dance Macabre

by Steven Parris Ward

Overview

The Dance Macabre (Paean on the nature of life and death as a Humanist Philosophy)in six cantos Danse Macabre (French), Danza Macabra (Italian and Spanish), or Totentanz (German), is a late-medieval allegory on the universality of death. Irrespective of one's class in life, the dance of death unites all. The idea consists of the personified death leading a row of dancing figures to the grave, typically with an emperor, king, youngster, and beautiful girl in the troupe. The image above reminds people of how fragile their lives and how vain the glories of earthly life are.[1] Its origins are postulated from illustrated sermon texts; the earliest artistic examples being in a cemetery in Paris circa 1424.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781453535929
Publisher:	Xlibris UK
Publication date:	07/13/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	64
File size:	415 KB