August Gaber, “Death as the Winner”, 1848, after Alfred Rethel

August Gaber (1823 –1891)

“Death as the Winner” (or “Der Tod als Sieger” or "Death Leaving the City as a Hero"), 1848

Technical Details & Condition:

Woodcut (wood-engraving) printed in black on heavy buff wove paper. This is the sixth and final plate, lettered above the image as “Sechstes Blatt” (Sixth Sheet), from the series “Auch ein Todtentanz” (or “This, too, is a Dance of Death”). The edition was published in Leipzig in 1849 by Georg Wigand (1818–1858).

The series revisits the medieval “Danse Macabre” tradition—where skeletons interact with the living to reflect on mortality (memento mori)—but recontextualises it within the German Revolutions of 1848–49.

In this climactic scene, Death is portrayed as a mock hero. Crowned with laurel and holding a white flag attached to his scythe, he rides a horse over a barricade of fallen revolutionaries. A chilling detail: the horse licks the wound of a dead insurgent, emphasizing the cold, unfeeling nature of the “liberty” found in death. The series serves as a conservative, counter-revolutionary warning that radical upheaval only leads to the grave. 

The design of this print, along with the others in the series, is based on drawings by Alfred Rethel (1816–1859), with intermediary design work by Hugo Leopold Friedrich Heinrich Bürkner (1818–1897). The verses below the image are by Robert Reinick (1805–1852). 

The impression is strong and well-printed. Aside from minor bumps to the lower corners, the sheet is in near pristine condition, free of tears, holes, abrasions, or stains.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 28.2 x 42 cm
• Platemark: 22.3 x 31.8 cm

Lettering:

• Above image borderline at centre: “Sechstes Blatt.”
• Within the image borderline at lower right: “GABER sc.”
• Below the image borderline in four columns of two lines: “Der sie geführt — es war der Tod! / Er hat gehalten, was er bot. // Die ihm gefolgt, sie liegen bleich / Als Brüder alle, frei und gleich. — // Seht hin die Maske that er fort; / Als Sieger, hoch zu Rosse dort, / zieht, der Verwesung hohn im Blick, / Der held der rothen Republik.”

(Translation: “He who led them—it was Death! He kept his promise. Those who followed him lie pale, all brothers, free and equal. Look, he removed the mask; as victor, high on horseback, there, with the scorn of decay in his eyes, rides the hero of the Red Republic.”)

References:

• Adriani 99 (Gert Adriani, “Alfred Rethel: Auch ein Totentanz: Todesdarstellungen von 1828 bis 1852”, 1956, Düsseldorf, p. 29, cat. no. 99).
• Rijksmuseum: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200137057
• National Galleries of Scotland: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/155965/dance-death-auch-ein-todtentanz-death-winner   
• British Museum (series): https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1977-U-11-1-6

Price & Shipping:

AU$288 (approximately US$206.50 / €175.96 / £152.51), including worldwide express shipping. Import duties (if any) are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you wish to purchase this exceptionally executed and startlingly memorable woodcut, based on a design by Alfred Rethel, please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I will provide a PayPal invoice to ensure a secure and easy transaction.

This print has been sold

August Gaber’s wood engraving, “Death on Horseback Approaching a City”, 1848, after Alfred Rethel

August Gaber (1823 –1891)

“Death on Horseback Approaching a City”, 1848, the second plate (“Zweites Blatt” or second sheet) from the series, “Auch ein Todtentanz” (aka “This, too, is a Dance of Death”), showing scenes depicting the dance of death in the context of the German Revolutions of 1848-49, after drawings by Alfred Rethel (1816–1859) and following the intermediary design by Hugo Leopold Friedrich Heinrich Bürkner (aka Hugo Leopold Friedrich Heinrich Bürckner) (1818–1897), with verses by Robert Reinick (1805–1852), published in Leipzig by Georg Wigand (1818–1858).

Wood engraving printed in black and a beige tone block on wove paper. The verso has a round violet ink-stamp of the art collector and postal inspector, Kasimir Hagen (1887–1965), featuring the Madonna and Child bordered with the lettering “KUNSTSAMMLUNG KASIMIR HAGEN^.KOELN^.” (see http://www.kunst-und-kultur.de/index.php?Action=showCollector&cId=999), slightly shining through to the image (recto).

Size: (sheet) 29 x 41 cm; (image borderline) 22.3 x 32.4 cm.

Lettered above the image borderline: “Zweites Blatt.”

Lettered below the image borderline in four columns: “Der Morgen schaut vom himmelszelt/ So klar wie sonst auf Stadt und Feld;// Da trabt mit wilder hast heran/ Der Freund des Volks, der Sensenmann./ Zur Stadt lenkt seinen Gaul er hin,// Schon ahnt er reiche Ernte drin./ Die hahnenfeder auf dem hut/ Glüht in der Sonne roth wie Blut,// Die Sense blitzt wie Wetterschein,/ Es stöhnt der Gaul, die Raben schrei'n!” ([Google transl.] “The morning looks from the heavenly tent/ As clear as usual on town and field;// There trots up wildly/ The friend of the people, the Grim Reaper./ He steers his horse towards the town,// He already senses a rich harvest there./ The rooster's feather on the hat/ Glows red in the sun like blood,// The scythe flashes like weather,/ The horse moans, the ravens scream!”)

Adriani 99 (Gert Adriani 1956, “Alfred Rethel: Auch ein Totentanz: Todesdarstellungen von 1828 bis 1852”, Düsseldorf, p. 29, cat.no. 99).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print from the People's Edition of Augustus: (transl.) “Allegory of the Revolution in the German Lands of 1848: ‘Ein Totentanz aus dem Jahre 1848’" (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.48251).

See also the description of the folio of engravings offered by the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1977-U-11-1-6.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression with full margins as published. There is darkening to the margins of the sheet and a pale stain of the collector’s stamp (Kasimir Hagen) printed verso is visible in the image; otherwise, there are no tears, holes, folds, or foxing.

I am selling this large wood-engraving that is the second plate in a macabre series of prints presenting a nineteenth century twist to the famous “Dance of Death” allegory—here the skeletal personification of Death holding a scythe and the scales of judgement rides a horse past scattering farm folk on a road leading to a walled city during the German revolution of 1848/9 (I suspect that the city may be Cologne with the twin spires of the Cathedral St. Peter?)—for the total cost of AU$224 (currently US$149.72/EUR135.47/GBP119.25 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing this visually arresting engraving, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

August Gaber’s wood engraving, “Victorious Death”, 1848, after Alfred Rethel

 

August Gaber (1823 –1891)

“Victorious Death” (aka “Sechstes Blatt”; “Sixth Sheet: Death on Horseback Leaving the City as a Hero”), 1848, the sixth and final plate from the series, “Auch ein Todtentanz” (aka “This, too, is a Dance of Death”), showing scenes depicting the dance of death in the context of the German Revolutions of 1848-49, after drawings by Alfred Rethel (1816–1859) and following the intermediary design by Hugo Leopold Friedrich Heinrich Bürkner (aka Hugo Leopold Friedrich Heinrich Bürckner) (1818–1897), with verses by Robert Reinick (1805–1852), published in Leipzig by Georg Wigand (1818–1858).

Wood engraving printed in black with a buff tonal plate on wove paper, backed with a support sheet.

Size: (support sheet) 67.8 x 51.8 cm; (sheet) 51.8 x 38.2 cm; (image borderline) 45.6 x 37 cm.

Lettered above the image borderline: “Sechstes Blatt.”

Lettered within the image borderline: (lower right) “GABER SC.”

Lettered below the image borderline in nine columns of two lines: “Der sie geführt — es war der God! ... Der Held der rothen Republik.”

Adriani 99 (Gert Adriani 1956, “Alfred Rethel: Auch ein Totentanz: Todesdarstellungen von 1828 bis 1852”, Düsseldorf, p. 29, cat.no. 99).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print from the People's Edition of Augustus: (transl.) “Allegory of the Revolution in the German Lands of 1848: ‘Ein Totentanz aus dem Jahre 1848’" (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.48255).

See also the description of the folio of engravings offered by the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1977-U-11-1-6.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper providing wide margins. There is a restored/supported tear in the upper margin along with handling marks, otherwise the sheet is in a very good condition with no significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this large engraving which is the final plate in a macabre series of prints presenting a nineteenth century twist to the famous “Dance of Death” allegory—here the skeletal personification of Death crowned with laurel leaves and holding a blank flag rides a horse that has lurched forward to lick the blood from a fallen insurgent during the German revolution of 1848/9—for the total cost of AU$224 (currently US$149.89/EUR150.19/GBP131.46 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing this visually arresting engraving, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold