Throughout Holbein's suite, Death is shown escorting people from all walks of life to their

final destiny. The implied message provided by the suite is that all must live their lives virtuously and be prepared, as Death may visit without warning. This theme is one that developed strongly through the 15th and 16th Centuries and is likely to have grown from the highly visible nature of death - especially in the years following the devastating plague known as the "Black Death".

To the left, we show the Title Page from the 1st Edition of Der Todten-Tantz (1538)

published in Lyon by the brothers Trechsel.

For connoisseurs, we have prepared sets of 41 Greeting Cards displaying each of the images from Der Todten-Tantz (1538) and on the left, we show an example of how these Greeting Cards appear.

Code: HH TT MS(41)
Price: US$205.00

When presented on Greeting Cards, these images are prepared as tipped-on plates -

in hommage to the hand-crafted approach typical of prestige illustrated publications

produced in the early decades of the 20th Century. Each card is hand-finished and

the images are presented on White card stock with an accompanying envelope. On

the rear of each card we also present some information about this great work and

each individual illustration. We have left the interior of the cards blank so that you

may write your own personal message.

Should you wish to order a reproduction print or prints from this suite, we have

provided some options below, in addition to further information about the images

in this superb set. Each of our Fine Art Posters is prepared with archival quality papers

and inks - and also accompanied by information about this great work and the

profiled illustration.

Of course, should you wish to discuss some customised options, we welcome your

contact on any matter through ThePeople@SpiritoftheAges.com.

In the meantime, enjoy perusing these powerful images from Hans Holbein.

An example of one of our Fine Art Posters

in a superb 20x30" format

Illustration 1

Die Erschaffung des Menschen

(The Creation)

God first created Heaven, Sea, Earth,

From nothingness to demonstrate his power,

And then out of the earth he created

The man and the woman in his own likeness.

Illustration 2

Der Fall Adam und Eve

(The Temptation)

Adam was by Eve deceived,

And against God's command the apple ate;

For which the two have suffered death,

And mortal every man has since become.

Illustration 3

Die Verstosung des Menschen

(The Expulsion from Paradise)

God drove out the man from pleasantness

On the labour of his hands to live:

The did Death come to seize him,

And as the consequence all human creatures.

Illustration 4

Über die Verfluchung des Menschen

(The Curse upon Earth and on Man)

Accursed in thy labour be the ground,

Thy life in labour shalt thou spend,

Until that Death shall lay thee under ground;

Dust art thou, and to dust thou shalt return.

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M1 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M2 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M3 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M4 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Illustration 5

Über die Gebeine aller Menschen

(The Charnel House)

Unhappy ye who in the world are living

Filled always with adversities;

For any good which may abound to you,

Yet will ye all be visited by Death.

Illustration 6

Der Papst

(The Pope)

Thou who dost dream thyself to be immortal

Shalt soon by Death be hurried far away;

And howsoever great a priest thou be,

Another shall possess thy bishopric.

Illustration 7

Der Kaiser

(The Emperor)

Thine house shalt thou set in oder

As thine own transitory good,

For where thou in death shalt rest

Will the chariots of thy glory.

Illustration 8

Der König

(The King)

So that he who to-day is a king,

To-morrow in the tomb will be shut up.

For no king from all his splendour,

Has been able aught else to carry off.

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M5 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M6 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M7 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M8 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Illustration 9

Die Cardinal

(The Cardinal)

Evil be yours who justify

The man inhuman and full of malice;

Through gifts ye pronounce him holy,

And take from the righteous his righteousness.

Illustration 10

Die Kaiserin

(The Empress)

Ye who walk on in pomp of pride,

Death one day will make you yield.

As under your feet ye bend the grass,

So will he humble you.

Illustration 11

Die Königin

(The Queen)

Arise ye dames who in wealth abound,

Here the voice of those passed away.

After many a year and day have passed,

Ye shall be troubled and grieving.

Illustration 12

Der Bischoff

(The Bishop)

The shepherd also will I smite,

Mitres and crosiers overthrown.

And when I shall entrap him,

Then will his sheep be scattered abroad.

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M9 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M10 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M11 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M12 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Illustration 13

Der Fürst

(The Prince)

Come, prince, with me, and lay aside

Honours of the world so quickly ending.

The only one am I, who indeed abase

The pride and the pomp of the mighty.

Illustration 14

Der Abt

(The Abbot)

He will die, for he has not obtained

For himself any training of wisdom;

And among number will he be deceived

By the follow which over him rules.

Illustration 15

Die Abtissin

(The Abbess)

I have always the dead more praised

Than the living in whom evil abounds;

Nevertheless Death has united me

To the rank of those who are of the world.

Illustration 16

Der Edelmann

(The Nobleman)

Who is that man, however great he be,

Who is able to live on without dying?

And when by Death wholly borne down,

Who again can make is soul run its course?

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M13 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M14 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M15 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M16 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Illustration 17

Der Dom-Herr

(The Canon)

To the choir thou goest to say thine hours,

Praying God for thyself and thy neighbour.

But need there is now that thou die,

Seest thou not the hour that approaches.

Illustration 18

Der Richter

(The Judge)

From the midst of them will I take you,

Ye judges corrupted by gifts.

From Death you shall not be exempt,

For elsewhere will I carry you off.

Illustration 19

Der Advocat

(The Advocate)

The crafty man has seen the maliciousness

That would make the innocent be bound,

And then by some way of the law

Has he come to afflict the poor.

Illustration 20

Der Raths-Herr

(The Magistrate)

The rich men do ye always counsel,

And to the poor ye shut the ear.

Aloud will ye cry at the last day,

But to you also will God do the like.

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M17 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M18 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M19 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M20 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Illustration 21

Der Pfarrher

(The Preacher)

Evil for you who thus are bold

To blame us as evil though it is good,

And to hold forth as good though it is evil,

Placing with the sweet the bitter.

Illustration 22

Der Caplan

(The Priest)

I bear the holy sacrament

Desiring to succour the dying,

I, who am mortal as he is,

And like him I needs must die.

Illustration 23

Der Mönch

(The Monk)

Thou who hast neither care nor remorse

Save only for thy state of beggary,

Thou wilt follow to the shadow of Death

In order to free thyself from necessity.

Illustration 24

Die Nonne

(The Nun)

Such a way is to human creatures good,

And to man it appears very just.

But the end of it gives to man

The Death, who all sinners assembles.

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M21 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M22 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M23 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M24 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Illustration 25

Das Alte Weib

(The Aged Woman)

Long time have I lived in pain,

So that no more have I wish to live;

But of a surety I well believe

Better is Death and life.

Illustration 26

Der Medicus

(The Physician)

Well knowest thou the malady

In order to succour the patient,

And yet knowest not, blunder-head,

The ill by which thou art about to die.

Illustration 27

Der Sternsecher

(The Astrologer)

Thou didst tell by speech of double meaning

That which to others ought to happen.

Tell me then by Astrology

When thou oughtest to come to me.

Illustration 28

Der Reiche

(The Miser)

This very night Death will seize thee,

And to-morrow wilt thou be buried.

But tell me, fool, to whom will come

The goods which thou hast hoarded.

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M25 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M26 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M27 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M28 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Illustration 29

Der Kauffmann

(The Merchant)

Vain is that man who shall hoard up

Great wealth and treasures for untruth,

Death will make him repent of it,

For in Death's snare will he be taken.

Illustration 30

Der Schiffenden

(The Seaman in a Storm)

In order to acquire worldly goods

Ye enter into temptation,

Which places you in sudden perils

And leads you to perdition.

Illustration 31

Der Ritter

(The Knight)

People suddenly will rise up

In opposition to the inhuman,

And the violent will they take away

From among them without force of hand.

Illustration 32

Der Graff

(The Count)

With himself he will carry nothing away,

But let Death only once make him fall,

Nothing of his glory will he take

To place with himself in his tomb.

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M29 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M30 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M31 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M32 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Illustration 33

Der alte-Mann

(The Old Man)

My spirits, how they are weakened,

And my life is passing all in vain.

Alas! my long days are lessened,

More remains not for me but a tomb.

Illustration 34

Die Gräfin

(The Countess)

Midst worldly goods their days they spend

In pleasures and in sadness,

Then sudden to the grave descend,

Where pass their joys to sadness.

Illustration 35

Die Verliebten

(The Bride and Bridegroom)

Til love unites and makes us live,

And will in faith our hearts prepare;

Long time it will not be able to follow us,

Because Death will come to part us.

Illustration 36

Die Fürstin

(The Princess)

From the bed to which thou hast gone up

Thou shalt not come down at they pleasure.

For thee Death will have quickly subdued,

And in brie time will he come to seize thee.

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M33 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M34 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M35 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M36 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Illustration 37

Der Krämer

(The Pedlar)

Come, and walk after me,

Ye, who are too much laden.

Enough have ye followed the markets:

Ye shall now be unloaded by me.

Illustration 38

Der Ackersmann

(The Farmer)

In the sweat of thy brow

Thy poor living shalt thou gain.

After long toil and practice

Behold the Death which conveys thee away.

Illustration 39

Der Kind

(The Young Child)

Every man from woman born

Is full of misery and encumbrance,

Thus as a flower soon ending.

He comes forth and then flees as the shadow doth.

Illustration 40

Das letze Gericht

(The Last Judgment)

Before the throne of the mighty Judge

Each one for himself account shall render,

Watch, therefore, that he may not condemn you,

For ye know not when he will come.

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M37 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M38 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M39 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M40 12x18
Price: US$60.00

Illustration 41

Wappen des Todes

(The Escutcheon of Death)

If thou wishest to live without sin,

Look on this image in all thy purposes,

And in nothing wilt thou be hindred

When away thou shalt go to thy rest.

Fine Art Poster (12x18'')

Code: HH TT M41 12x18
Price: US$60.00