Trionfo della Morte (Triumph of Death)
Palermo Italy - 1446 , Artist Unknown
"The fresco is composed as a large miniature, where in a luxurious garden surrounded by a hedge, Death enters riding a skinny horse. It is portrayed while launching deadly arrows against characters belonging to all the social levels, killing them. The horse occupies the centre of the scene, with its ribs well visible and a scrawny head showing teeth and the tongue. Death has just released an arrow, which has hit a young man in the lower right corner; it is keeping on a side the scythe, its typical attribute.
On the lower part are the corpses of the people previously killed: emperors, popes, bishops, friars (both Franciscans and Dominicans), poets, knights, and maidens. Each character is portrayed differently: some still have a grimace of pain on the face, while others are serene; some have their limbs abandoned on the ground, and others are kneeling down after having been just struck by an arrow. On the left is a group of poor people, invoking Death to stop their suffering, but being ignored. Among them, the figure looking towards the observer has been proposed as a possible self-portrait of the artist.
On the right is the group of the nobles, shown as having no interest in the events, and most of them continuing their activities. They include several musicians, richly dressed noblewomen, and knights with fur clothes, as symbols of life and youth. A man is keeping a hawk on his arm, and another is leading two hounds."
On the lower part are the corpses of the people previously killed: emperors, popes, bishops, friars (both Franciscans and Dominicans), poets, knights, and maidens. Each character is portrayed differently: some still have a grimace of pain on the face, while others are serene; some have their limbs abandoned on the ground, and others are kneeling down after having been just struck by an arrow. On the left is a group of poor people, invoking Death to stop their suffering, but being ignored. Among them, the figure looking towards the observer has been proposed as a possible self-portrait of the artist.
On the right is the group of the nobles, shown as having no interest in the events, and most of them continuing their activities. They include several musicians, richly dressed noblewomen, and knights with fur clothes, as symbols of life and youth. A man is keeping a hawk on his arm, and another is leading two hounds."
Taken from www.scienceheathen.com
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