Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

065. Latin Capital Letter Alphabet (Death Alphabet)

Prior to the Images of Death, Holbein designed a Latin alphabet for Lützelburger that showcased the latter’s dexterity at woodcutting. The minuscule compositions expertly render action, emotion, and three-dimensionality—qualities that the other blockcutters who worked with Holbein could not as effectively achieve. The capital letters were intended to be used in a printed book to begin a paragraph or section of text (what is often called a “drop cap” today). This print was produced as an advertisement for Lützelburger, however, and the letters themselves appeared only in a few books published in Basel during the 1520s and ’30s.

Hans Lützelburger (1495?–1526), after designs by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98–1543)
Latin Capital Letter Alphabet (Death Alphabet), ca. 1523
Woodcut
Inscribed at bottom center, in German: Hans Lützelburger, blockcutter, called Franc [i.e., of French origin]
Kunstmuseum Basel, Kupferstichkabinett, X.228