Editing Danse Macabre (section)

==Mural paintings==
[[File:Simon Marmion, Saint Bertin Altarpiece, ca 1459, Right wing, side A, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.jpg|thumb|[[Simon Marmion]]: Right wing (inside) of the former high altar of the abbey church of St-Bertin in St-Omer (1455–1459) with the depiction of a dance of death fresco in the cloister gallery]]
[[Fresco]]es and murals dealing with death had a long tradition, and were widespread. For example, the legend of the ''Three Living and the Three Dead.'' On a ride or hunt, three young gentlemen meet three cadavers (sometimes described as their ancestors) who warn them, ''Quod fuimus, estis; quod sumus, vos eritis'' ("What we were, you are; what we are, you will be"). Numerous mural versions of that legend from the 13th century onwards have survived (for instance, in the [[:de:Heiligen-Geist-Hospital (Wismar)|Hospital Church]] of [[Wismar]] or the residential [[Longthorpe Tower]] outside [[Peterborough]]). Since they showed pictorial sequences of men and corpses covered with shrouds, those paintings are sometimes regarded as cultural precursors of the new genre.

A ''Danse Macabre'' painting may show a round dance headed by Death or, more usually, a chain of alternating dead and live dancers. From the highest ranks of the mediaeval hierarchy (usually pope and emperor) descending to its lowest (beggar, peasant, and child), each mortal's hand is taken by an animated skeleton or cadaver. The famous ''Totentanz'' by Bernt Notke in [[St. Mary's Church, Lübeck]] (destroyed during the Allied [[bombing of Lübeck in World War II]]), presented the dead dancers as very lively and agile, making the impression that they were actually dancing, whereas their living dancing partners looked clumsy and passive. The apparent class distinction in almost all of these paintings is completely neutralized by Death as the ultimate equalizer, so that a sociocritical element is subtly inherent to the whole genre. The ''Totentanz'' of [[Metnitz]], for example, shows how a pope crowned with his [[tiara]] is being led into Hell by Death.

{{Wide image|Totentanz LübeckR.jpg|2000px|align-cap=center|''Lübecker Totentanz'' by [[Bernt Notke]] (around 1463, destroyed in a bombing raid in 1942)|alt=A mural depicting a chain of alternating living and dead dancers}}

Usually, a short dialogue is attached to each pair of dancers, in which Death is summoning him (or, more rarely, her) to dance and the summoned is moaning about impending death. In the first printed ''Totentanz'' textbook (Anon.: ''Vierzeiliger oberdeutscher Totentanz'', Heidelberger Blockbuch, {{circa|1455/58}}), Death addresses, for example, the emperor:

{{quote|<poem>
Emperor, your sword won't help you out
Sceptre and crown are worthless here
I've taken you by the hand
For you must come to my dance
</poem>}}

At the lower end of the ''Totentanz'', Death calls, for example, the peasant to dance, who answers:

{{quote|<poem>
I had to work very much and very hard
The sweat was running down my skin
I'd like to escape death nonetheless
But here I won't have any luck
</poem>}}Various examples of ''Danse Macabre'' in Slovenia and Croatia below: <gallery mode="packed">
File:Totentanz Maria im Fels Beram.JPG|The fresco at the back wall of the Church of St. Mary of the Rocks in the [[Istria County|Istrian]] town of Beram (1474), painted by Vincent of [[Kastav]], Croatia
File:Hrastovlje Dans3.jpg|[[John of Kastav]]: Detail of the ''Dance Macabre fresco'' (1490) in the [[Holy Trinity Church (Hrastovlje)|Holy Trinity Church]] in [[Hrastovlje]], Slovenia
File:Dance of Death (replica of 15th century fresco; National Gallery of Slovenia).jpg|''Dance of Death'' (replica of 15th century fresco; [[National Gallery of Slovenia]])
File:Totentanz in Hrastovlje.JPG|The famous ''Danse Macabre'' in [[Hrastovlje]] in the [[Holy Trinity Church (Hrastovlje)|Holy Trinity Church]]
File:Trionfo della morte - Chiesa S. Maria Annunciata - Bienno (ph Luca Giarelli).jpg|''Danse Macabre'' in St Maria in [[Bienno]], 16th century
</gallery>