Patrick Pollefeys:
A dance of death adorns the church of Nørre Alslev, on Falster Island. It was painted around 1480 and then whitewashed in the 17th century, as well as many other medieval frescoes, to be rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century. You must read the picture from left to right. The first figure, almost completely erased, is a dead who sits on the ground while playing a wind instrument. Only four people follow him: the king, the bishop, the nobleman and the peasant. Arabesques and stylized flowers decorate the picture. Since there is no text to the painting, it is difficult to determine who indeed are the partners of the living ones in this farandole. Some specialists believe they are devils and not dead; they point out that the bishop's partner has horns, while another creature sticks out her tongue in a devilish way. Nevertheless, a closer look at the picture reveals that these horns and tongue are in fact worms or snakes crawling out of the eyeholes and mouth of the corpses. This makes the dead even more loathsome and amplifies the feeling of fright in the spectator's soul.