Artistic Response to The Black Death
Since the antiquity of mankind's existence, history has shown that whenever catastrophe strikes a population, society's reaction of the time has always been to seek an answer as to why it occurred in the first place. Typically in societies that have no scientific bases in their explanation presume the catastrophe was brought on by divine intervention. When the Black Death hit Europe in 1347 the death toll reached a staggering rate that present-day historians believe wiped out half of Europe's population, with populated cities such as Florence, Milan, and Venice reaching even higher death rates than one half. During a time where disease was found everywhere, and the only certainty in life was death, many people found themselves turning away from their religion, while others found salvation in it. Today historians can study the witnesses of the Black Death experiences, and beliefs through the art they created. The artistic response to the Black Death is one of the most cred