Dance of the Death Artwork

In class we briefly discussed the Dance of the Death Artwork, so I did some further research on the subject. These portraits came about, because of the black plague. People were forced to think about their impending death and how short life really is. These thoughts were expressed in their poetry, music and visual arts. In The Dance of the Death Artwork the living are arranged in order of their rank in society.

In this portrait a clergy member is being taken to death, representing how no one can escape death grasp.  Escorting them to their death is a skeleton, or sometimes shown as a rotten corpse, most of the time they are shown carrying spears, bows and arrows or graveyard tools. However, they are often pictured as carrying musical instruments, which they would play, while dancing around, to mock the living. The living are shown full of despair and begging for mercy. However, death shows them no mercy, taking its victims regardless their social status, sex or age.

Trumph of Death

The Black Death was both a confusing and terrifying time during the years of 1347 through 1350.  Waves of pestilence consumed Europe and death seemed inevitable for those in its path.  Although the Renaissance is generally regarded for its remarkable accomplishments and intellectual advancements; the Black Death cannot be shoved aside.  Such disaster caused for a breakdown in society,  and a mass collection of city ordinances in order to try and save communities from disease. The onset of plague also caused mass panic which lead to accounts of violence and the desertion of entire areas.

 The oil painting by Peter Bruegel named the Triumph of Death, painted in 1562 portrays the destruction caused by the pestilence. In the picture, the artist presents mass death, chaos, and a collapse in societal workings.  In the background the church is represented which can assume that people of this time period believed the destruction to be caused or punishable by god.  Even further in the background lies a barren wasteland in which everything has been destroyed.  This provides a look at the decimation of an entire area once it was consumed by pestilence.

Color Symbolism

In class, we discussed the myth that the Renaissance was colored in browns and overall neutral tones, in regards to the clothing that people wore. However, the opposite is true. Color played a vital role in Renaissance culture, because what you wore symbolized how you felt and your status in society. Royalty and upper class, for example wore rich reds and purples to showcase their wealth and authority. The picture below depicts princess Elizabeth Tudor in all her grander. Notice that she is colored head to toe in red and ornamented in jewels- another obvious indicator of wealth.

Portrait of Elizabeth I as a Princess
c. 1546, attributed to William Scrots

Some color symbolism from the Renaissance is still used in society today. When we go to funerals, we wear black. Why? Because it is tradition. The same is true for why we wear certain clothing to formal events, such as a tuxedo on your wedding day, or formal blacks for a concert. We do  this out of tradition. In the Renaissance, black was a color associated with mourning, seriousness and sophistication. 

Here is a key to other color symbols in the Renaissance

Orange-  used my middle to lower class citizens to mimic the upper classes reds

Yellow- first worn by wealthy men and merchants, but quickly became color to wear for prostitutes 

Green- youth, chastity, love and joy (remember the Arnolfini portrait we looked at?)

Blue- marriageable women, servitude, jealousy (turquoise)  

Browns- religious modesty, poverty 

White- purity for women and chastity for men, symbolic of humanities in universities

The Equality of Death

The crisis of the plague was so omnipresent for several centuries that one can certainly say that a lot of painters and artists got influenced by these disastrous conditions and all the suffering that came along. Hans Holbein the Younger was probably one of them. Holbein was born 1497 in Augsburg and belonged to a German family of artists. He spent most of his life in Basel and did a lot of portraits. He also became the private painter of King Henry VIII. In 1526 he designed a whole series of woodcuts called Dance of Death, which were first published in 1538. Mostly all of the 41 images illustrate the Death escorting people to their final destiny. Every woodcut has a name or a title written above the picture. The one I found at The British Museum website says “Der Rychman” which is old German language and means “The Rich Man”. But even without the title the picture shows clearly the wealth of the man. All the bags and boxes full of coins indicate that he is not just rich but immensely wealthy. The Death, who is sitting at the table in front of him, takes first what the man loves the most: his money. The man raises his hands and seems to ask the Death for forgiveness but the burned down candle and the hourglass reveal that there will be no escape. Neither the money nor the thick stonewalls and iron bars could prevent the Rich Man from Death. 

The theme of the Dance of Death was a common genre in the 15^th and 16^th century. It refers to the universality of Death and should be a reminder for the people of the fragility of life and the mortality of earthly pleasures. Holbein showed in his woodcuts people from all classes. His Dance of Death actually begins with The Pope (see the following link: http://www.dodedans.com/Eholbein06.htm) and shows no respect for any other social group. Death haunts the king just as the old woman, the knight, the countess or the child (to see more of the woodcuts go to this website: http://www.lamortdanslart.com/danse/Manuscrit/Holbein/dd_holbein.htm ). In his series Holbein shows the social equality of death, which was an attribute of the plague of the Black Death. Holbein himself died of the plague in 1543. Other prospective artists often copied his woodcuts of the Dance of Death.

The Madonna of Humility

The Renaissance consisted of many things, one of them being the rebirth of art and culture. Leonardo da Vinci was in love with nature as were many of the artists in this era (Zophy 1). In his time as an artist, Leonardo used a new technique, sfumato, which made the painting darker looking with a sort of hazy look to it. This oil painting is known as "The Virgin of the Rocks." As you can see, Mary is seated on the ground with John the Baptist too her right, the baby Christ and an arch-angel to her left. It seems as if Mary is guiding John the Baptist to Christ, by the way her hand is around his body and placed on the shoulder.

This piece of artwork was started in 1491, in the midst of the Italian Renaissance. I think this painting is interesting because of the Burckhardt readings we talked about in class, he wrote that the Renaissance was a secular time period where there was hardly any belief in God. When looking at this painting, majority of the idea is religion. Mary, John the Baptist, Christ, and an angel; all four figures are religious. This oil painting is sort of evidence for when we are trying to argue against Burckhardt's secularism concept of the Renaissance. 

For King and Country

  At the battle of Crecy King Edward III of England, who was trying to claim France for himself, defeated Phillip VI of France. This battle was won not necessarily by the English out smarting the French, but the French confusing themselves. During their charge at the English it began to rain and the strings of their crossbows lost tension. As a result when the archers fired, their arrows didn't come close to striking the English. But the English were using long bows and had removed their strings and kept them dry, so when they re-strung their bows and fired their arrows killed many Frenchmen. this caused the archers to retreat into their infantry that was still advancing creating chaos in the French Ranks. And so the English began the slaughter that won them the battle.
  I chose this piece of art not to tell about the 100 years war but to show that war and people's willingness to fight for their community was still present during the Renaissance. According to Burckhardt the middle ages was a time period of war and men fighting for the cause of their king, however the 100 years war is proof that this mind set was still present during the Renaissance. In class we spoke of the 100 years war and how it actually lasted 116 years, from 1337 to 1453. The only reason this war continued for so long was because the men of England and the men of France supported their communities and kings. Of course the Frenchmen were in a tougher position considering the English were invading, but they still fought for their kings cause. Before reading about the 100 years war I was subject to Burckhardt's thoughts, that everything bad and dark happened during the Middle Ages and everything good happened during the Renaissance. But the 100 years war was actually taking place at the same time as the Renaissance. The thought that a war that was causing the death of thousands of men was actually happening during this time period is shocking, and makes me wonder if the Renaissance was a great time period to live in or not.

The Plague Doctor

In the middle ages, disease was thought to have been airborne, which led doctors, who treated infected patients, to wear beak like masks stuffed with herbs and cloth. The belief was, that the herbs inside the mask would purify the air and prevent sickness. Yet, many plague doctors succumbed to the plague, mainly do to the fact that most, if not all, were not really doctors, and only a handful had any real medical training. But biology in the middle ages was still very misunderstood, and whether or not a plague doctor did or did not have medical training was inconsequential since the main method of treatment was simply popping open infected pustules of puss, and exposing others to more bacteria and infection. However, these so called specialists were the few people brave enough to treat people infected with the black plague, and as a result were treated very well. Often plague doctors were hired by a town or a village and treated both the rich and the poor, which relates back to the idea of the black death being the great "Equalizer" of men. Some of these doctors would even work as part of a private medical fleet. For example, Pope Clement VI had multiple doctors at his disposal. Though medieval medicine is archaic and ineffective, plague doctors are an iconic figure of the middle ages, and brought hope to thousands of people suffering from the bubonic plague.

La Pucelle

Joan of Arc or La Pucelle [French for “the Maid”]. She created quite the stir during the latter part of the Hundred Years War. With her military tactics as well as commands from God, she helped to save the French in this war against the English. She is most noted for her siege of Orleans where in just under two weeks she freed the city from English control (Devries vii). Yet she would not have a warrior’s death, instead she received a much different punishment. On the 23^rd of May in 1430, the Burgundians captured La Pucelle as she refused to leave any soldier behind, therefore leaving herself open to capture (Devris 174). The English government purchased her from the Burgundian king, before trying her for witchcraft and burning her at the stake, [the image is a 19^th century painting showing her death, the source is here].

In class, she was mentioned only fleetingly yet she played a very large role in making sure that the French actually survived the Hundred Years War. Before she arrived, the French were tired, hungry, and sick of experiencing defeat after defeat. She managed not only to rally the troops to her side, but even the populous of France came to support her and what she stood for. Yet because of her belief that she heard the divine word of God the English viewed her as a heretic and burned her for this reason among others, notably her refusal to wear women’s dress. At least for me personally her choice makes sense, first because she was a soldier, and second because after her capture she lived in constant fear of being sexually assaulted. To wear men’s clothes brought a little more protection as well as the ability to move more easily in a given situation.

*All of my information came from the book Joan of Arc A Military Leader by Kelly Devries.*

-By Jenn Kervian