Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuesday with Memento Mori
I first encountered the Dance of Death in the form of a beaten-up book checked out from my High School Library. It was a reprint of the Hans Holbein Alphabet of Death from the 16th Century. Working in an antiquated style that was a world away from the restraint and sophistication of his paintings, (see his famous portrait of Henry the 8th here) Holbein brilliantly rendered his take on a common theme: the universality and rough equality of death.
In a brutally democratic way, Death came for Popes and peasants. The mighty and the miserable all must bow to a common end. Death could come for anyone at anytime, extending a bony hand in an invitation for a final pas-de-deux.
This was a popular notion at a time of famine and plague in Europe, and there are many other examples. In Lucerne, Switzerland a series of these paintings adorn the rafters of a centuries-old covered bridge. A traveler could look up as he passed over the bridge to see Death going about his business.
Macabre? Yes. But there is a flip side to the message as well. We are here for a limited time only, look around and appreciate the wonder of it all while you can. A reminder of death, a memento mori, can be a powerful reminder of the value of life, too.
As Nouveau-Feudalism struggles to make a comeback in the 21st Century with its radical separation of the winners and losers, emphasis on Crusade and Jihad, and preference for faith over thought, it seems like a good time to look at this theme again. This is the first of a series. Death extends a bony hand...
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well said.
ReplyDeleteJim Marshall would approve this message.
ReplyDeleteRest in peace, Jim. You are missed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link!
ReplyDeleteIt's better to dance to the grave than to try to run away.
Nice post, i love the phrase memento mori, currently learning Latin
ReplyDeleteI love it too. There is something in the musty elegance of the Latin phrase that gets lost in modern English translation. I guess the word I'm looking for is "gravitas"
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