Category:The dance of death - Rubens drawings after Holbein

The dance of death - Rubens drawings after Holbein, ca. 1590: This sketchbook consists of 44 drawings with the theme 'The dance of death'. This popular satirical series focuses on man's confrontation with Death. No one is spared by Death: poor or rich, young or old, without distinction of rank or position. In his youth, Rubens was probably very fascinated by the sharpness and drama of these prints, more specifically by the woodcuts that Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) designed on this allegorical theme. The young Rubens copied them in their entirety in his sketchbook. Copying work by older masters, incidentally, was a common and very important practice in an apprentice's painting training. These copies are considered the earliest surviving drawings by Rubens. He was probably only 13 years old at the time. That they were of great importance to him is apparent from source material that mentions that in later life Rubens said that in his youth he was deeply impressed by wood engravings by Holbein and Tobias Stimmer and that he made copies of them. >