The impact of the Black Death on the arts in Fourteenth-Century Europe
The historical period of the 1330s to 1340s experienced the greatest disaster in history. Europe was stricken by the deadly catastrophic plague that terminated the more than half the people in cities such as Venice. The bubonic wave of the fatal malady that swept Europe was believed to have originated near Mongolia, a place where it terminated the lives of over a third of the people. The Black Death with its prime objective produced the resultant effects that were experiences immediately and devastating on the artists. The paramount impact was the absolute decline in the art industry due to the death of prominent artists. Besides, it severely impacted immense depletion in numbers on future potential new painters. This paper seeks to discuss the prime impact of Black Death in Europe on the arts in the fourteenth – century.
The successive aftermath of the outbreak events that took place resulted in the immediate stop of the artistic activity. Drastic drop and halt in arts also came as a result of the decline of funding by the civic authorities. Besides, the death left behind unbearable pain and suffering for the artistic culture that let the artisans to morn for long periods hence decline of the artistic activities (Stockstad & Cathren., 2018). In the building industry, the impact was realised on the landowner building practices, holding a chief in the area of self-defence. The lords with the right to a prominent display of the tomb had to fund the building of the completion churches and the monasteries.
Furthermore, the events of the plague, Black Death reinforced the aspect of realism powerfully. The pandemic resulted in fear and acute panic among the people of Europe. The fear of hell became realistic with the rich and the poor developed the urgency of attaining and ensuring salvation due to the misconception about the occurrence of the Black Death (Stockstad & Cathren., 2018). Many people thought God's wrath caused it due to the commitment they did against God such as fornication, greed, immorality and others. The Day of Judgment was read by the educated and the rich artists who thoughtfully began to develop ‘Bona Mors’ of good death with the reasons for having the expensive tombs.
The trauma of the fourteenth century about the Black Death impacted the emergence of popular artistic channels that were enrolled for representation of death. They were famously referred to as Dance of death (Stockstad & Cathren., 2018). For instance, the indications of macabre dance which was performed poetised and after that painted. The dance macabre based superstition of folk represented by the skeletons and living a second social and spiritual life lessons that for the living are accompanied with the death.
In conclusion, the historical times of the fourteenth century in Europe was concurrent with a life-striking deadly plague, famously referred to as ‘Black Death’. The Black Death had effects on the arts such decline in the art industry due to deaths of the prominent artists, reinforcement of realism of art as panic resulted to spiritual lessons and the emergence of the artistic channels such as Macabre. Above all, Black Death had an adverse impact on the art, especially to painters. Therefore this paper has discussed in depth the impacts of Black Death on arts in Europe in the fourteenth century.
Reference
Stockstad, M., & Cathren, M. (2018). Art History (6th Ed.). 2018: Pearson.
