The Dance of Death

 There was a very well known tradition in the middle ages for pictures known as 'The Dance of Death'. This is a famous one from a series by Albrecht Dürer, the 15th century painter and printmaker. It shows pictures of particular types of people being danced away to their fate by a smiling skeleton of death. He is sometimes, for reasons I don't know, playing a xylophone! Anyway, he is a jolly dance partner, but the implication is clear that Death calls for us all, whatever our state in the world. Here is the count getting his invitation to the dance:

In all the pictures you get the trappings of the person being called, and from a Christian point of view it could be seen as a reminder that despite our success or station in the world we all go 'naked' to judgement and will all be judged equally on our acts and not on our rank. It is also a reminder that death comes to each of us, without fail. As a cultural Catholic I was brought up hearing the rite as they smeared the Ash Wednesday ashes on my forehead:

“Remember, O man, that dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return"

from the Latin;  “Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.” 

Now Cro, you may or may not know, along with all her other skills, was a tremendous artist and sketcher and cartoonist from an early age (and was a professional cartoonist at various times in her career), and she as an 18-year old was very taken by the form of the Dance of Death. So at the age of 18, and almost certainly with his instigation, she drew a series of Dance of Death pictures for her own father, Raymond. He was a notorious wit and troublemaker and loved the whole idea. They hung above his desk for years. His subjects included the student, the librarian, the fellow of the British Museum, you get the idea. Here is the one that Cro did for the Gardener:

And Cro made sure that she always included an appropriate couplet for each picture, which adds to its glory. And then, for my birthday in 2008 I think, she actually did a dance of death series for me. I was overjoyed: She included all the things I loved in life: The cyclist, the musician, the squash player, the traveller, and in each of them Death was there meeting me. In the cyclist one I am hurtling down a hill and in the background there are signs pointing to 'This world' and 'The next'. It is a thing of great beauty and I will perhaps include the whole series here in a later post if there is enough demand. 

Before showing you the last one she made me, as a Valentine's Day special some years later, I would like to reflect - as is my wont - on the reason that I so like these pictures. Now you could say that the message in the original medieval ones was that the trappings of this world were unimportant and we all stand naked before the Lord. But I think that is only one of the readings. The other message could be 'You know not the hour, so as well as standing ready for the trump of doom, make sure that you enjoy the hell out of the life you have here'. Which is the reading I choose to put on it. All the joys that the pictures show are joys even more because you know they will pass. The fine piquancy of transience adds to the flavour of life's dish. 

And a couple of years ago, Cro made a beautiful third Dance of Death cycle for her daughter Nell, which even included one for her cat! I was particularly pleased with helping on the couplet there: "The Kitty doth in joy recline, but Death alas can count to nine."

So here is the lovely last picture that Cro did for me. I leave it to speak for itself 😊