Ars: časopis Ústavu Dejín Umenia Slovenskej Akadémie Vied (48.2015)

ŠTÚDIE / ARTICLES

ARS 48, 2015, 1

A Curions Collection of Curions Deaths
in Theatrum mortis humanae tripartitum by Johann Weichard
Valvasor: Context, Sources, Invention

Tine GERM

Scholarly literatuře most often deals with the
Theatrum mortis bumanae tripartitum (1682)1 by the
Carniolan polymath Johann Weichard Valvasor
(1641—1693) from the viewpoint of the iconogra-
phy of Death or, in a narrower sense, the Dance of
Death, because the latter covers the largest part of

1 A copy of Valvasor’s Theatrum mortis bumanae tripartitum is kept
in the Manuscript Collection and a Collection of Rare Prints
at the National and University Library (NUK) in Ljubljana
(R 12471). The NUK copy is digitalized and available at:
http://www.dedi.si/virtualna-knjiga/24745; pages cited in
the article refer to this copy. The format of the book is oc-
tavo (8°) and the size of engravings (with the exception of
the full-page introductory illustration) varies from 89x76 to
91x78 mm . In 1969 a modern édition was published, with
the addition of Slovène translation byJože Mlinarič and an af-
terword by Emilijan Cevc (VALVASOR, J. W: Theatrum mortis
humanae tripartitum / Pripprišče človeške smrti v treh delih. Maribor
— Novo město 1969). In 2004 a facsimile with an afterword
by Hartmut Freytag, was published in the German sériés
Emblematisches Cabinet: VALVASOR, J. W: Tbeatrummortis
humanae tripartitum. Das ist: Schau-Bühne dess Menschlichen Todts
in drey Theil. Mit schönen Kupffer-Sliehen gepiehrt vnd an Taggegehen.
Mit einem Nachwort von Hartmut Freytag. Hildesheim - Zürich
— New York 2004. Among earlier descriptions of Valvasor’s
Theatrum see in the first place: RADICS, P.: Johann Weikhhard
Freiherr von Valvasor. Ljubljana 1910, pp. 174-184. The work
is briefly presented also in: REISP, B.: Kranjskipolihistor Janep
Vajkard Valvasor. Ljubljana 1983, pp. 133-137. For a shorter
présentation of the book’s iconographie aspect see: GERM,
M.: Theatrum mortis humanae tripartitum: iconographie de
la Mort dans le livre de Janez Vajkard Valvasor. In: CRES-
CENZO, R. (ed.): Espaces de l’image, (Europe XVI-XVII, 10).
Nancy 2002, pp. 77-99. The question of stylistic clarification
and intégration into the European context, with a list of

the book.2 The motif of “a dance with Death” or
encounters with Death also acts as a special common
thread of the entire Theatrum, a hybrid and at the
same time an original work, which can be classified
under the genre of allegorical moral-didactic poetry,
very populär in the Baroque age.3 As the title shows,
earlier bibliography, is presented in: GERM, T.: Zapoznela
renesansa v bakrorezih grafične delavnice Janeza Vajkarda
Valvasorja: provincialnost ali vpetost v evropski kontekst?.
In: WEISS, J. (ed.): Studia Valvasoriana. Ljubljana 2014, pp.
285-308.
2 For the recentmost Undings about Valvasor’s Dance of De-
ath, with a list of earlier bibliography, see: GERM, M.: Saltus
mortis in Valvasor’s Theatrum mortis humanae tripartitum:
A Copy of Holbein’s Dance of Death?. In: Ikon, No 7,2014,
pp. 313-326.
3 According to the title and the author’s foreword, the The-
atrum mortis humanae can be understood as an allegory — a
metaphorical theatre stage on which we can contemplate
tableaux of life and death. In the structure of his book as a
combination of an image, device and verses, Valvasor relies
on the tradition of emblem books, although his is not a true
emblem book. The author defines his Theatrum as an edifying
work at which people should reflect upon the transience of
life, and he compares human existence and his own book to
the theatre stage. In his study to the facsimile édition of the
Theatrum mortis humanae tripartitum, Hartmut Freytag, too, de-
fines Valvasor’s work as an allegorical poem in which memento
mon\s the central motif. See: FREYTAG, H.: Nachwort. In:
VALVASOR, J. W.: Theatrum mortis humanae tripartitum: das
ist: Schau-Bühne dess Menschlichen Todts in drey Theil: mit schönen
Kupjfer-Sliehen gepiehrt vnd an Taggegeben. Hildesheim — Zürich
— New York 2004, pp. 265-274.

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