Das Kind

(The Child)

 

Der Todten-Tantz

Illustrated by an unidentified Renaissance artist

 

 

 

Complete Image

 

Single Greeting Card (with matching Envelope)

Code: GS TT35 SGC
Price: US$5.00

Image detail (for reference)

Reproduction on 8x12" sheet

Code: GS TT35 8x12
Price: US$30.00

Reproduction on 10x15" sheet

Code: GS TT35 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 Child, this illustration is associated traditionally with the text shown

below.

 

 

Death to the Child:

Crawl over here, Child, you must learn to dance,

Cry or laugh, you may not refuse.

Even if you had the breast in your mouth,

It does not help you in this moment.

The Child:

Oh woe, my dear little mother,

A gray man drags me away.

Oh little mother, will you leave me?

I must dance and can still hardly walk.