This study is concerned with the artisitc influence of the Black Death by focusing on one of the most complex imagery of Trecento art, Orcagna’s Tabernacle in Orsanmichele. It argues that Black Death or Plague occurred in 1348 caused huge confusion ...
This study is concerned with the artisitc influence of the Black Death by focusing on one of the most complex imagery of Trecento art, Orcagna’s Tabernacle in Orsanmichele. It argues that Black Death or Plague occurred in 1348 caused huge confusion in medieval Europe, and resultantly played an catalytic role in making the relationship of art and society more closely.
Renaissance timely spans identically the period of deadly pandemic from the perspective of the catastrophe of the plague. Therefore, questions arise as to “how widely and compressively the plague made an impact on art?”; “how seriously medieval Europeans tried to revise their attitude of life, having witnessed the endless death?”, “Is it exactly the horrors of the plague behind the art of Renaissance?” Those questions will provide important clues in understanding ‘Renaissance art’ more dynamic way.
Having critically reviewed Millard Meiss’s pioneering study of “Art after the Black Death” in 1954, this study looks into the changes in the pattern of commemoration and charity and the way of ordering art. It has been arguably said that the plague made an immediate impact on iconographic and stylistic change in art. However, it is more certainty in the social way of demanding art where the plague made more long-term impact in art. Ultimately, these changes made structural change in European art.
In conclusion, this study shows how Andrea Orcanga’s Tabernacle in Orsanmichele, Florence, commissioned in 1355 and mostly completed in 1359, demonstrated the expulsive desire of salvation by means of visual arts, in both private as well as collective level. It particularly underlines the role of confraternity in the commissioning art after the Black Death.