[HOLBEIN, HANS (1497-1543) AND] HOLLAR, WENCESLAUS (1607-1677). MORTALIUM NOBILITAS. [ANTWERP:] 1651. 30 ENGRAVED PLATES WITH BIBLICAL MOTTOS IN LATIN AS CAPTIONS (C.75 X 55MM TO PLATE MARK) WITHIN ENGRAVED BORDERS (114 X 88MM TO PLATE MARK) BY HOLLAR AFTER HOLBEIN (THE PLATES) AND DIEPENBEEK (THE BORDERS), EACH TIPPED, ONE PER LEAF, IN A MODERN ALBUM (250 X 161MM). (WITHOUT THE TITLE, OCCASIONAL LIGHT SPOTTING.) MODERN QUARTER MOROCCO, FLAT SPINE TITLED IN GILT.
Lot 51

[HOLBEIN, HANS (1497-1543) AND] HOLLAR, WENCESLAUS (1607-1677). MORTALIUM NOBILITAS. [ANTWERP:] 1651. 30 ENGRAVED PLATES WITH BIBLICAL MOTTOS IN LATIN AS CAPTIONS (C.75 X 55MM TO PLATE MARK) WITHIN ENGRAVED BORDERS (114 X 88MM TO PLATE MARK) BY HOLLAR AFTER HOLBEIN (THE PLATES) AND DIEPENBEEK (THE BORDERS), EACH TIPPED, ONE PER LEAF, IN A MODERN ALBUM (250 X 161MM). (WITHOUT THE TITLE, OCCASIONAL LIGHT SPOTTING.) MODERN QUARTER MOROCCO, FLAT SPINE TITLED IN GILT.

Closed30 November 2010

Price Realised

GBP 4,000

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[HOLBEIN, HANS (1497-1543) AND] HOLLAR, WENCESLAUS (1607-1677). MORTALIUM NOBILITAS. [ANTWERP:] 1651. 30 ENGRAVED PLATES WITH BIBLICAL MOTTOS IN LATIN AS CAPTIONS (C.75 X 55MM TO PLATE MARK) WITHIN ENGRAVED BORDERS (114 X 88MM TO PLATE MARK) BY HOLLAR AFTER HOLBEIN (THE PLATES) AND DIEPENBEEK (THE BORDERS), EACH TIPPED, ONE PER LEAF, IN A MODERN ALBUM (250 X 161MM). (WITHOUT THE TITLE, OCCASIONAL LIGHT SPOTTING.) MODERN QUARTER MOROCCO, FLAT SPINE TITLED IN GILT.

THE RARE FIRST EDITION OF HOLLAR'S VERSION OF HOLBEIN. The series is among the most enduring of all renditions of the medieval 'Dance of Death'. Holbein's designs reflect a newly-humanistic conception of death, depicting with realism its arrival into domestic and everyday settings. This celebrated and much reproduced series of copper-plates was made in the years of Hollar's exile in Antwerp (1645-1650). Pennington 233-262.