Der Abbt

(The Abbott)

 

Der Todten-Tantz

Illustrated by an unidentified Renaissance artist

 

 

 

Complete Image

 

Single Greeting Card (with matching Envelope)

Code: GS TT12 SGC
Price: US$5.00

Image detail (for reference)

Reproduction on 8x12" sheet

Code: GS TT12 8x12
Price: US$30.00

Reproduction on 10x15" sheet

Code: GS TT12 10x15
Price: US$50.00

 

 

 

This image carries no discernable monogram to support attribution to a particular artist, but in the context of the

appearance in a consolidated work related to Basle's "Dance of Death" and the style of the woodblock from which

the print derives, it is possible that the design is by Scharffenberg. At the very least, it is reasonable to attribute it to

a German artist productive during the mid-16th Century.

 

Depicting the exchange between Death and the Abbott, this illustration is associated traditionally with the text

shown below.

 

 

Death to the Abbott:

Mr Abbott, I am pulling your cap off,

Therefore, your staff no longer avila you.

Have you been a good shepherd,

For your sheep here, then the honour will be yours.

 

The Abbot:

I have raised myself as an Abbott,

And lived long in hin honour.

And there was nobody who opposed me,

You I am Death's equal.