artofcoredesign:

done… #plague #doctor #art #sketch

quidcogitas:

the remains of many felled by Plague are building material in the Ossuary of San Burnardino Alle Ossa -Milan,Italy {photo:Rob Sheridan}

“The ossuary dates back to 1210, when an adjacent hospital cemetery became overcrowded and a charnel house was built to hold the bones.”

Religious shelter.

“Holbein’s dance of death alphabet was first used in August 1524. The alphabet was originally published as sheets with Bible quotes.” This is a video of what the alphabet may have looked like with the letters removed and paired with their respective Bible quote.

Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death alphabet (Part 3). There are 24 letters since i,j and u,v are the same:

V. The Rider

W. The Hermit

X. The Gamblers

Y. The Baby

Z. Judgement Day

© The Trustees of the British Museum

Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death alphabet (Part 2). There are 24 letters since i,j and u,v are the same:

K. The Nobleman

L. The Canon

M. The Physician 

N. The Rich Man/Miser

O. The Monk

P. The Soldier

Q. The Nun

R. The Fool

S. The Young Girl

© The Trustees of the British Museum

Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death alphabet (Part 1). There are 24 letters since i,j and u,v are the same:

A. Bones of All Men

B. The Pope

C. The Emperor

D. The King

E. The Cardinal 

F. The Empress 

G. The Queen 

H. The Bishop

I.  The Duke

© The Trustees of the British Museum

Burial of the dead in Flanders, 1349.

HISTORY MEME: (½ NATURAL DISASTER) - The Black Death 

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350, and killing between 75 million and 200 million people. Although there were several competing theories as to the etiology of the Black Death, recent analysis of DNA from victims in northern and southern Europe indicates that the pathogen responsible was the Yersinia pestis bacterium probably causing several forms of plague. The Black Death is thought to have started in China or central Asia. It then travelled along the Silk Road and reached the Crimea by 1346. From there, it was probably carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships. Spreading throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, the Black Death is estimated to have killed 30 to 60 percent of Europe’s population. All in all, the plague reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million to a number between 350 and 375 million in the 14th century. The aftermath of the plague created a series of religious, social and economic upheavals, which had profound effects on the course of European history. It took 150 years for Europe’s population to recover. The plague reoccurred occasionally in Europe until the 19th century.

“One citizen avoided another, hardly any neighbour troubled about others, relatives never or hardly ever visited each other. Moreover, such terror was struck into the hearts of men and women by this calamity, that brother abandoned brother, and the uncle his nephew, and the sister her brother, and very often the wife her husband. What is even worse and nearly incredible is that fathers and mothers refused to see and tend their children, as if they had not been theirs.” - Giovanni Boccaccio (Italian writer, lived through the plague as it ravaged the city of Florence in 1348)

strangeremains:

Ancient mass grave unearthed at Italian gallery thought to contain dozens of plague victims

Work to expand the Uffizi Gallery’s exhibit space has unearthed an ancient cemetery with dozens of skeletons archaeologists say might have been victims of the plague or some other epidemic that swept through Florence during the 4th or 5th century.

Archaeologists and art officials showed reporters Wednesday the excavation at the renowned museum. In five months of digging, archaeologists uncovered 60 well-preserved skeletons in a cemetery apparently made in a hurry, perhaps a mass grave, with bodies laid side-by-side at roughly the same time.

Read more and see more really cool photos at the National Post

abystle:

The Triumph of Death. Palermo, Palazzo Abatellis. Early fifteenth century.

“Some important observations from details of the painting deserve mention in increasing relevance. First, as mentioned, in the living group of ‘survivors’ behind Death the artist has painted himself looking out directly at the viewer while holding a brush; left of him is his likely assistant or apprentice also looking out. Second, in the plague group on the bottom right, one elegantly dressed woman grimaces in a rictus of shock and fear at the arrow just having struck her while her companion on the right (further from Death’s advance) may be attempting to comfort her. Third, nearly all of Death’s arrows are protruding from the necks of the victims, which greatly favors the responsive lymphatic nature of bubonic plague where the body attempts – usually in futility – to fight off the assault on the immune system. Fourth, a close look at Death’s bow shows it to be a compound bow from the East, likewise his arrow sheath, suggesting a cognition that this form of death came from the Mongol Empire, commensurate with the plague of 1347-51 arriving with the Golden Horde from Central Asia where the Mongol Empire was then on the wane.” (source)