Bernt Notke
Dance of Death
Saint Nicholas’ Church Tallin Estonia

In the same vein as the Triumph of Death, which was sequestered to Italy, the Danse Macabre theme became popular in France and Germany during the late middle ages.¹ The Triumph used allegory and story to convey the inevitability of death, whereas the Danse theme used representations of all strata of society and their deathly doppelgangers made everyone confront their personal mortality. The equalizing nature of death as represented by the Danse theme added to the shift in a humanistic perspective on society. Additionally, this theme mirrored the eschatological opinions of the church emphasizing the inevitability of death and the importance of the immortal soul. ¹ Cathrine Vincent. “Dance Macabre”. Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. (e-reference edition). http://www.oxford-middleages.com/entry?entry=t179.e778