Allusion has already been made to the beautiful paintings of
Botticelli and Fra Angelico, which tell us of Italian choral dances of
their period; these do not belong to social functions, but are
certainly illustrative of the custom of their day. Albert Dürer (figs.
45, 46) has given us illustrations of the field dances of his period,
but both these dances and those drawn by Sebald Beham (fig. 47) are
coarse, and contrast unfavourably with the Italian, although the
action is vigorous and robust.

[Illustration: Fig. 47.--Scenes from dances. German, dated 1546, by
Hans Sebald Beham.] The military dance of Dames and Knights of
Armour, by Hans Burgkmair, on the other hand, appears stately and
dignified (fig. 48). This may illustrate the difference between
chamber and garden or field dancing.

[Illustration: Fig. 48.--A torchlight military dance of the early 16th
century. From a picture by Hans Burgkmair.]

At the end of the sixteenth century we get a work on dancing which
shows us completely its position as a social art in that day. It is
the "Orchésographie" of Thoinot Arbeau (Jean Tabouret, Canon of
Langres, in 1588), from which comes the illustration of the
"Galliarde" (fig. 49) and to which I would refer the reader for all
the information he desires concerning this period. In this work much
stress is laid on the value of learning to dance from many points of
view--development of strength, manner, habits and courtesy, etc. Alas!
we know now that all these external habits can be acquired and leave
the "natural man" beneath. [Illustration: Fig. 49.--_La Galliarde_.
From the "Orchésographie" of Thoinot Arbeau (Jean Tabourot), Langres,