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Black Death
The plague fist
showed up in Italy in the late 1340s and returned with regular
outbreaks for the next five hundred years. Many of Italy's greatest painters died of
plague, including the great Sienese geniuses,
Ambrogio Lorenzetti
and
Pietro Lorenzetti,
who died
in the first out break of 1348.
Later plague epidemics took the lives of
Andrea del Sarto,
Titian,
Dosso Dossi,
and the greatest Venetian genius of all time,
Giorgione
. The horrors of the black death pervaded all aspects of European
culture, especially art. The effects were lasting, bringing a
somber darkness to visual art, literature, and music. The dreadful
trauma of this era instigated the imaginations of writers and painters
in bleak and disturbing ways for decades to follow. Hell, Satan and
the Grim Reaper became favored subjects.
When
the plague first struck, Europe was emerging from the "dark ages"
trying to put unpleasant memories behind it and move on to a more
enlightened era. Barbarians no longer ran rough shod, putting entire
villages to the torch and slaughtering the local peasants.
Without the constant fear of invasion, art and architecture found
fertile ground to grow. Gothic painters were not simply anonymous
lowly craftsmen, but well respected professionals. They were held in
high esteem and often interacted with clergy and wealthy patrons.
The arrival of Black death harkened in a new darker era of painting.
Paintings were overflowing with tortured souls, death, dying, fire and
brimstone.
Bubonic Plague was known as the Black Death and had been known in Europe for centuries. It was a grisly sickness. The victim's skin turned purplish in places and inflamed pustules burst open spilling contagious puss on bystanders. To top it off victims also endured compulsive projectile vomiting. This caused clergy to denounce early victims as being possessed by the devil.
After a few days or even hours plague victims became unrecognizable, grotesque monsters. The died by the millions, alone in agony, their kinsmen fleeing in terror. Government and Clergy tried to control the catastrophe, but the disease progressed relentlessly, eventually wiping out 80 million people.
Preventing the Plague
Many believed that the
disease was spread upon
the air, So, the
survivors turned to
incense, fragrant oils
and perfumes to ward off
the deadly vapors that
they believed to be
causing the infection.
With so many bodies
piling up, if nothing
else the air smelled a
bit better. Towns rang
church bells and held
parades where all the
citizens paraded through
the streets banging pots
and pans to drive the
plague away. Gypsies,
Jews, foreign travelers,
and lepers were hunted
down and killed as they
were believed to be the
carriers of the disease.
Medieval entrepreneurs
made a fortune selling
talismans, lucky charms
and enchantments.
Peasants who could not
afford such luxuries
simply wore a necklace
of garlic around their
necks or crushed herbs
in their pockets. People
were frantic for a
remedy and would try
anything, no matter how
peculiar or bizarre.
Life in the Gothic
Era
In the Gothic Era,
people concentrated
mainly on the church,
God, and personal
salvation. Life in Medieval
Europe was
primitive and
far more difficult than
that of Imperial Rome. The
Average life expectancy
was only 30.
Christianity
provided an ethical
element lacking in previous cultures.
Traveling in the Middle
Ages was discouraged by
Feudal Lords and as
peasants were often
considered the property
of their Rulers.
Non-Christians had a
particularly difficult
time traveling
throughout in
Medieval Europe.
According to
distinguished historian
Israel Abrahams, "Before
leaving home, a Jewish
wayfarer of the Middle
Ages was bound to
procure two kinds of
passport. In no country
in those days was
freedom of motion
allowed to anyone. The
Jew was simply a little
more hampered than
others. In England, the
Jew paid a feudal fine
before he might cross
the seas. In Spain, the
system of exactions was
very complete. No Jew
could change his
residence without a
license even within his
own town. But in
addition to the
inflictions of the
Government, the Jews
enacted voluntary laws
of their own, forcing
their brethren to obtain
a congregational permit
before starting."
A Medieval Song about the Plague
"A
sickly season," the
merchant said,
"The town I left was
filled with dead,
and everywhere these
queer red flies
crawled upon the
corpses' eyes,
eating them away."
"Fair make you sick,"
the merchant said,
"They crawled upon the
wine and bread.
Pale priests with oil
and books,
bulging eyes and crazy
looks,
dropping like the
flies."
"I had to laugh," the
merchant said,
"The doctors purged, and
dosed, and bled;
"And proved through
solemn disputation
"The cause lay in some
constellation.
"Then they began to
die."
"First they sneezed,"
the merchant said,
"And then they turned
the brightest red,
Begged for water, then
fell back.
With bulging eyes and
face turned black,
they waited for the
flies."
"I came away," the
merchant said,
"You can't do business
with the dead.
"So I've come here to
ply my trade.
"You'll find this to be
a fine brocade..."
And then he sneezed.
The Meaning of Sacred Symbols in Paintings. Most prominently featured symbols and their meaning:
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