nresulted in another viscous opening for the disease to enter. One physician maintainedthat the disruptiveness of malodorous places such as latrines would drive the sicknessaway, while others maintained it was the cause. Bottom line, the only cure or betterstated, the only defense was isolation based on medical knowledge at the time. Monarchs, Lords, Kings and even the Papacy were spared only through the revelation thatbeing alone was the key to survival. Surprisingly, in all the references there was little to be found referring to the Artsand the beginning of the Renaissance Period. One volume of recommended reading titledPlague and Pestilence in Literature and Art, Raymond Crawfurd, Clarendon Press, 1914was referenced, but was not available. Undoubtedly, there were effects that were negativeand positive. Negative in meaning that the depiction of death became more morbid afterthe Plague. A fair example can be found on a wall of the cemetery close to Camposanto(Pisa Cathedral) in Pisa. Like Pieter Bruegel, The Elder's painting, "Triumph of Death",1562 (attached), this fresco by Francesco Traini, is also called "Triumph of Death", 1350(Roy T. Matthew and F. DeWitt Platt, The Western Humanities, Second Edition,Mayfield Publishing Company, 1994). Death relinquished its identity as an intangibleskeleton, to become a vision of the macabre. A black flowing shroud with a scythe forgathering souls. Death no longer took on the stately representation of regalia worn byknights and ladies of the court. Post-Black Death art during the Renaissance also depicts ahigher moral standard. For example, Giovanni del Biondo's vision of John the Evangelist,renders him overwhelming Avarice, Pride, and Vain-glory. The direct effect the Plaguehad was to clear away the blurring veils where Gothic Art had taken a foothold. Humanitywas brought back to earth by their own mortality. The Renaissance was a reawakening,resurrection, or renewal of reality showing lif...
