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Hans Holbein's Dance of Death has fascinated researchers for centuries, and in the shape of the book Les Simulachres et historiées de la mort, published in 1538, it was going to change the perception of the dance of death theme for a long time ahead. What most researchers point out about Holbein's pictures is its underlying sense of satire or irony – but is typically glossed over as a matter of fact. The aim of this study is to explore what makes satire and humor apparent in Holbein's dance of death. The study mainly focuses on four separate images from Holbein's series, that represent different social standings and professions to compare and study the difference in satire depending on this factor. By using Panofsky's iconographic method, Kemp's reception theory and Bachtin's theory about the carnivalesque and the grotesque, the study shows that Holbein was inspired by the earlier traditions of the Dance of Death theme but made certain new changes that were related to renaissance culture and ideas. These factors in combination with the ideas of the grotesque turned the frightful Death into something more than just a sudden harbinger of death – it was also part of carnival culture and laughter.

Le concept d’un « dispositif d’objets » présent dans le Portrait d’un marchand (v. 1530) de Jan Gossart et le Portrait du marchand Georg Gisze (1532) d’Hans Holbein le Jeune a pour objectif de porter un regard nouveau sur des œuvres trop souvent réduites à des notions d’esthétisme et de symbolisme. En utilisant une approche pluridisciplinaire à notre analyse, nous voulons promouvoir les objets comme acteur dominant dans la mise en scène de l’identité sociale du marchand au 16e siècle. L’association entre histoire de l’art et anthropologie des techniques permet la validation d’une scénographie de la culture matérielle marchande, ainsi que le dégagement d’un commentaire social inhérent à la proposition artistique de Gossart et Holbein. L’intérêt d’une étude orientée sur les objets promet également l’ouverture d’une réflexion sur la manière de concevoir le portrait d’occupation indépendamment de la valeur anagogique qui lui est généralement associée à la Renaissance. Le Portrait d’un marchand et le Portrait du marchand Georg Gisze attestent d’un moment ponctuel dans la production spatio-temporelle des portraits de marchands en Europe du Nord au 16e siècle. L’analogie confondante qui unit les deux œuvres prend son essence dans la thématique visuelle engendrée par le « dispositif d’objets ». / The concept of an object system, as found in Jan Gossart’s Portrait of a Merchant (ca. 1530) and Hans Holbein the Younger’s Georg Gisze (1532) aims to reevaluate works which are too often reduced to aesthetics and symbolism. By means of a multidisciplinary approach, the study aims to promote the objects represented in the paintings as the dominant actors in the staging of the social identity of the sixteenth-century merchant. The association between art history and anthropology of techniques allows the validation of a scenography of the material merchant culture, as well as the emergence of a social commentary inherent to Gossart’s and Holbein’s artistic work. Attention to an object-oriented study also allows for new insights into how to understand the occupational portrait independently of an anagogical value, which is generally attributed to the Renaissance period. The Portrait of a Merchant and portrait of Georg Gisze attest to a specific moment in the production of merchant portraits in northern Europe during the sixteenth century. The apparently disparate works are united by the object system represented in the paintings.