1830 Hieronymous Hess Dance of Death MEMENTO MORI - hand coloured - Duke

Extremely rare Dance of Death by Hieronymous Hess after Büchel.

Hieronymus Hess (1799-1850) was an artist from Basel. As a young man he studied a few years in Rome among the contemporary artists known as "Nazarenes". Another Nazarene was the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen and Thorvaldsen's Museum's Internet-site has a number of letters from Hess to Thorvaldsen. Later on, Thorvaldsen through his contacts sent the young Hess to Nuremberg, but Hess preferred caricatures to Dürer.

In 1839 Hess was commissioned by Gottlieb Hasler to copy the watercolours that Büchel had made of the dance of death in Basel. The wall with the mural had been demolished in 1805, which might be the reason why Hess could allow himself great artistic license.