Descrizione

1st Edition. 4to - Published in conjunction with the Exhibition Of Hope and Healing. 2005 catalogue. Focused on painting produced in Italy during the Baroque and Renaissance periods, From the presentation: "Exploring the ways in which Italian society responded to this recurring, unpredictable disaster illuminates a variety of aesthetic, social, and religious concerns. Our exploration is interdisciplinary using contemporary documents, personal correspondence, medical and devotional treatises, chronicles and broadsides, poetry, sermons, chapbooks, and biblical commentary. The exhibit reveals the everyday life and the aspirations of those afflicted by the plague, whether the response is madness, eroticism or spirituality. There are a number of visual clues in the paintings that alert the viewer to the plague. The invisible enemy of the plague generated fear, horror and anxiety. However, thanks in part to the power of images, hope and courage persisted. "