Nobody knows for sure what started the plague, where it began, or even really when. The generally accepted theory holds that it came from China along the silk trade routes to Crimea in about 1346. Then, it was transmitted by Oriental rat fleas on the black rats of merchant ships to the Mediterranean, eventually reaching Europe where it hit its peak around 1349. There have been many assertions about the specific pathogen, from bubonic plague, anthrax, ebola, or even a combination of multiple fatal maladies. (EyeWitness, 2001)
Most symptoms were non-specific, though some were well-known. Once contracted, the plague killed its victim within 2-10 days. We will never know how many succumbed to the swollen pus-leeching buboes, acute fever, vile wretching of blood - we only have a vague approximation of somewhere between 75 and 200 million souls suffering in the 14th century. Over the four year period peak in Europe, it is thought to have devastated 50% of the population, while in areas surrounding the Mediterranean it decimated approximately 80% of the living. (Black Death, 2011)
So many had died so quickly that the burial system was overwhelmed and bodies lay piled throughout the city - no doubt contributing to the spread. Eventually, hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions were laid to rest in mass graves. No one will ever know how many families died out and were forgotten altogether - their identities lost in the ravages of a society whose structure crumbled beneath the overwhelming flood of the plague.
The few facts we can deduce from the survivors of this terrible time is that it spread rapidly, proliferating densely populated areas, and profoundly affected the lives of those who lived amongst it. It changed the way people lived, their perception of life and death, and continued to influence the art and culture throughout the numerous recurrences that continued to torment Europe throughout the Renaissance. Since the theme of death was so commonplace, it became depicted in numerous artworks of the time. Through the multitude of paintings, we can glimpse back in history and see how these morose and macabre topics were dealt with on a personal as well as a societal level. A recurring theme quickly developed: death comes for us all.
Dating back to 1355, The Black Death is perhaps one of the earliest frescoes depicting the plague in Europe. This remarkable and one-of-a-kind representation can be found in the St-André church of Lavaudieu, France. Considered "quite unique in macabre art," Pollefeys, 2008 explains that "the figure of Death - which stands for the black plague - is represented as a woman. Furthermore, she doesn't look like a putrefying corpse or a skeleton, as usual, but like a perfectly healthy human being."
While in Christian iconography, the plague is commonly represented by the bow, the center figure in this fresco is grasping handfuls of arrows. She is surrounded by the dying or dead, all of which are wounded by the arrows in the major lymphatic centers - the precise location that the plague initially presents itself as swollen tumors. Though this sorrowful piece of art has degraded through the centuries so much that it is impossible to clearly identify the subjects, it is apparent through their clothing that they come from all different walks of life. Some are women, some are men, there are rich and there are poor, but everyone meets death all the same. (Polleyfeys, 2008).
One of the most well-known paintings of the time was painted circa 1562 by Pieter Bruegel and is displayed in Madrid's Museo del Prado. It is entitled The Triumph of Death. While the subject of the painting does not specifically represent the effects of the plague, it is an excellent example of the abundant death that permeated society. It is a reminder that society was ravished by more than just the plague. The Triumph of Death successfully depicts the ongoing wars, starvation, executions, as well as countless acts of brutality stemming from piracy, revolt and general madness.
As an attempt to protect Europe, monarchs prohibited the exportation of food, controlled the price of grain and outlawed large-scale fishing. This prevented the import of grain to Europe from France, while the local producers suffered crop failures from labor shortages. Naturally, pirates and looters took any shipments of grain they could to sell on the black market. In addition, England and Scotland had spent their treasury on war, with the Hundred Years' War between England and France beginning "on the eve of the first wave of the Black Death." (Black Death, 2011)
"The European economy entered a vicious circle in which hunger and chronic, low-level debilitating disease reduced the productivity of labourers, and so the grain output was reduced, causing grain prices to increase. Standards of living fell drastically, diets grew more limited, and Europeans as a whole experienced more health problems." (Black Death, 2011)
Pictured above is Lübeck's Dance of Death. Painted in 1701 on canvas by Wortmann. It replaced the original canvas painting by Notke in 1463. Though sadly, it was destroyed during a bombing in 1942, black and white photographs still remain. While Lübeck's Dance of Death was the most popular and beautiful in Germany, it was not the first. It is just one on a list of over 50 examples spanning 12 different countries given on Lamortdanslart.com. It belongs to an artistic genre called the Dance of Death, or Danse Macabre as it is known in France where it is believed to have originated. (Polleyfeys, 2006)
According to Polleyfeys, 2006 "The dance of death of the Cimetière des Innocents in Paris, painted in 1924, is considered the starting point of this tradition." It is only known from a reproduction published in 1485. Since then, centuries of artists have replicated this theme in graves, churches, ossuaries and manuscripts. Though the style inevitably varies by artists and time period, ranging from wood-cuts, stick-figures, detailed carvings and frescoes, the motif remains the same. They always depict a corpse or skeleton escorting someone of a particular class or stereotype.
From artwork to artwork, though some have more or less characters and the processions portray variance in the dance, the members are always accompanied by a dialogue with death. Polleyfeys writes, "But death leads everyone into the dance." Each piece displays a range of classes: clergy, kings, knights, doctors, robbers, peasants and children. They are usually led by a skeleton playing a flute, a pied piper leading everyone to death irrespective of status, wealth, or even age.
The renaissance began in Europe during an extremely tumultuous time scarred by death from plague, war, famine and cruelty. It is no surprise that every century since the plague has seen a multitude of art with death as a recurring theme. The juxtaposition of life and death central to this surviving art style serves as a reminder, a warning and a challenge to treasure what little life we may have left.
References
Polleyfeys, P. (2006). Dance of Death. In LaMortDanslArt. Retrieved January 16, 2011, from http://www.lamortdanslart.com/danse/dance.htm.
Polleyfeys, P. (2008). Miscellaneous Depictions of Death. In LaMortDanslArt. Retrieved January 16, 2011, from http://www.lamortdanslart.com/divers/various.htm.
undefined. (2001). The Black Death, 1438. In EyeWitness to History. Retrieved January 15, 2011, from http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plague.htm.
undefined. (September 11, 2009). File:Thetriumphofdeath.jpg. In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 15, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thetriumphofdeath.jpg.
undefined. (January 7, 2011). Danse Macabre. In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 14, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danse_Macabre.
undefined. (January 9, 2011). Black Death. In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 14, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death.
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