Danse Macabre
Project:
Medieval Style Illumination:
Baronial Scroll
This project consists of an illuminated scroll executed in the late medieval Danse Macabre style. Illumination by Hug von Sporck.
The scroll:
Was commissioned as an official award scroll for the Barony, serving to induct a member of the populace into the Order of the Boar Counter-Ermine in recognition of their dedication to historical accuracy.
Design and materials:
Balances 14th- to 16th-century artistic philosophy with modern safety, material availability, and economic considerations.
Artistic Style & Graphic Execution
Cross-Hatching Technique:
The illumination relies heavily on cross-hatching—a graphic method where intersecting sets of parallel lines are overlaid to build up gradient values, shadows, and anatomical contours. Why was this technique so prevalent? The proliferation of new technologies had lasting impact on art styles.
Printmaking Influence and the Gutenberg Press:
While earlier medieval manuscripts relied on soft, blended paint gradients, the aesthetic of the late 15th and 16th centuries was deeply influenced by the advent of movable type and block printing.
The Gutenberg Metric: Following the introduction of the Gutenberg printing press (c. 1440 CE), illustrations had to adapt to relief and intaglio printmaking mediums, such as woodcuts and copperplate engravings.
Ease of Replication: Because solid blocks of wood or metal cannot easily print smooth gradients of grey, artists used line density and cross-hatching to define depth. This graphic approach allowed iconic Totentanz series—such as those later designed by Hans Holbein the Younger—to be easily reproduced, distributed, and understood by the masses. Incorporating this technique on the scroll firmly anchors its aesthetic to the transition between the late medieval and early modern print era.
Medium and Pigment Safety Analysis
Medium: Commercial archival ink and modern titanium/zinc-based white gouache.
Historical Precedent & Toxicity Risks: Historically, opaque white pigments were manufactured via the corrosion of metallic lead in vinegar (yielding lead white). Lead white is highly toxic and hazardous to process or handle in a modern home workshop.
Conservation Considerations: Traditional iron gall inks or early carbon inks were frequently unstable over long periods; iron gall ink is highly acidic and can literally burn through paper or vellum over centuries, while some organic inks are highly prone to fading when exposed to light.
Justification of Compromise: Commercial archival ink and modern gouache were substituted to completely eliminate chemical toxicity from the artisan and the recipient’s environment. (No need for a Moento Mori to hasten one's end). Furthermore, the lightfast, pH-neutral properties of modern archival inks guarantee that the scroll will remain structurally stable and visually pristine for the recipient without fading or corroding the substrate over time.
Philosophy of Iconography: Memento Mori and the Danse Macabre
Theological and Social Function
Depictions of skeletal or decaying human figures were highly prevalent in European art from the 14th through the 17th centuries, exploding in popularity following the demographic devastation of the Black Death. This aesthetic framework, known broadly as Memento Mori ("Remember you must die"), served a vital socio-religious purpose:
The Equivalence of Death: The art reminded viewers that death is the ultimate equalizer. Earthly wealth, social station, and temporal glory are entirely meaningless when facing mortality.
Spiritual Intentionality: Rather than being viewed through a modern lens of morbid despair, these reminders were deeply constructive. They urged the viewer to maintain a detached perspective on daily worldly troubles and to live with pious intention, ensuring their soul was perpetually prepared for the afterlife.
The Danse Macabre Genre
This specific scroll utilizes the Danse Macabre (or Totentanz) sub-genre. In this tradition, personified skeletons from all walks of life dance or march. This imagery emphasized the universal inevitability of death, cutting across lines of class and power to reinforce the shared human condition (Wölfflin 1970).
The Typology of Illuminated Media
From the 6th through the 15th centuries, the integration of precious metal leaf and vibrant pigments was deployed across distinct categories of text:
Ecclesiastical Texts: Major biblical codices, lectionaries, and liturgical volumes used to project institutional authority.
Devotional Media: Personalized books of hours—customized daily volumes containing canonical prayers, localized calendars, and significant dates—which proliferated among the late-medieval laity.
Chancellery & State Documents: Secular instruments of statecraft, such as charters, patents of nobility, and heraldic achievements. This tradition of prestige text survived well into the Renaissance, famously exemplified by the highly ornate illumination of King Henry VIII’s official royal coat of arms over a prepared gesso or gum adhesive base. When polished with a smooth stone burnisher (such as agate), these metallic surfaces acquired a mirror-like sheen. This material treatment served a critical dual function:
Metaphysical Symbolism: The literal radiance bouncing off the parchment was interpreted as an earthly manifestation of divine light (lux nova), bridging the physical text with heavenly illumination.
Pragmatic Legibility: In poorly lit medieval chapels and castles, the highly reflective gold leaf actively caught flickering candlelight, amplifying the visibility of the written word.
SOURCES
McKendrick, Scot, and Kathleen Doyle. 2016. The Art of the Bible: Illuminated Manuscripts from the Medieval World. London: Thames & Hudson / British Library.
Perkinson, Stephen. 2017. The Ivory Mirror: The Art of Mortality in Renaissance Europe. Brunswick: Bowdoin College Museum of Art / Yale University Press.
Reed, Ronald. 1972. Ancient Skins, Parchments and Leathers. London: Seminar Press.
Theophilus. c. 1122 (Reprint 1979). On Divers Arts. Translated by John G. Hawthorne and Cyril Stanley Smith. New York: Dover Publications.
Wölfflin, Heinrich. 1970. The Art of Albrecht Dürer. New York: Phaidon Publishers / Courier Corporation.
Clemens, Raymond, and Timothy Graham. 2007. Introduction to Manuscript Studies. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
De Hamel, Christopher. 2001. A History of Illuminated Manuscripts. London: Phaidon Press.
Alexander, J.J.G. 1992. Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work. New Haven: Yale University Press.
British Library. Royal Collection Manuscripts Digital Archive. London: British Library.
McKendrick, Scot, and Kathleen Doyle. 2016. The Art of the Bible: Illuminated Manuscripts from the Medieval World. London: Thames & Hudson / British Library.
Perkinson, Stephen. 2017. The Ivory Mirror: The Art of Mortality in Renaissance Europe. Brunswick: Bowdoin College Museum of Art / Yale University Press.
Theophilus. c. 1122 (Reprint 1979). On Divers Arts. Translated by John G. Hawthorne and Cyril Stanley Smith. New York: Dover Publications.
Wölfflin, Heinrich. 1970. The Art of Albrecht Dürer. New York: Phaidon Publishers / Courier Corporation.
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