copperplate, handmade paper with watermark fragment, sheet size 21x15.5 cm; printed on both sides - on the second side text in French
The text visible on the copperplate is a conversation between Death and the Nobleman, which in free translation reads as follows:
Death to a nobleman
Come here, noble warrior.
You must cultivate your manhood here,
in the face of Death, who spares no one.
Say goodbye and you will be rewarded.
Response of the Nobleman
I have frightened many men,
Who were covered with armor.
Now the ugly Death is fighting me
And really causes me great pain.
Jacques Anthony Chovin (1720-1776) was a Swiss-French engraver active in the mid to late 18th century. He was born in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is not known where he was educated, but he was an engraver of exceptional skill. He is best known for his dramatic engravings for the 1744 edition of Mathieu Mérian's work "Der Basler Totentanz" ("The Basel Dance of Death"). He also engraved several maps for Swiss geographer Samuel Engel (1702-1784).
The full title of the edition is The Dance of Death, presented in Basel's glorious and esteemed work, intended to serve as a mirror of human nature. (Basel: Jean Rodolphe Im Hoff, 1744) The first edition was published in 1621 and quickly became a huge success, in keeping with the popularity of memento mori and ars moriendi. The work is built around a series of engravings by the painter-ritualist Matthäus Merian based on the famous Totentanz fresco in Basel. In 1649, having sold his printing plates and nearing the end of his life, Merian bought back the woodcuts and slightly modified them, with the intention of publishing the final edition while he was still alive. The main difference from the original engravings was the addition of the actual backgrounds, which were originally unfinished. Jacques-Antony Chovin 's 1744 edition is the first bilingual French-German edition. Chovin drew inspiration from Merian's revised woodcuts, but created original copperplates for his own edition. The Dance of Death includes 42 engravings. Chovin based his work on the macabre engravings that Matthaüs Merian created for the 1649 edition. However, while Merian worked in wood, Chovin chose copperplate. On this occasion, he took the initiative to add landscapes to some of the engravings, remove or add certain attributes, and redraw some of the skeletons.
