# Art that was inspired by the Black Death
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 15, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369 "2015-09-15T16:41:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@carlowplayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlowplayer)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/1 "2015-09-15T16:41:21Z")
Am making a comparison between the hiv outbreak of the 20th century and the Black Death outbreak of the late middle ages for example:
HIV spread from Africa to America and then in Asia in westerly direction.It was seen as punishment for toleration of homosexuality who were the main victims and appeared in the arts as the universitality of death.It was also a zoonose spreading from chimpanzees to humans it has similar symptons to bubonic plague during seroconversion.It also have several subtypes and strains.It also affected the arts playing on the theme of the universitality of death ie in movies,songs and musicals(Rent,Philedelphia,Everytime We Say Goodbye by Annie Lennox for Edward II)
Now are their any songs from the late middle ages specifically about the black death as known drawings about the dance of death were made.Also any movies set during the plague outbreak
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### Author:  [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/2 "2015-09-15T17:19:55Z")
“[Il Decamerone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decameron)” by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) is a 14th century novel about frequently fairly racy tales told by a group of young people who fled to an isolate villa to escape the black death raging in Florence Translation to English. The film “[The Decameron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decameron_(1971_film))” (1971) by by Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini is based on this novel, as is the 2007 romantic comedy film “[Virgin Territory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Territory)”
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/3 "2015-09-15T17:26:33Z")
It was painted LONG after the Black Death, but it FEELS as if it was inspired by it.
**The Triumph of Death** (circa 1562) by Pieter Breughel the Elder
> **[The Triumph of Death](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triumph_of_Death)**
>
> The Triumph of Death is an oil panel painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted c. 1562. It has been in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1827.
> The painting shows a panorama of an army of skeletons wreaking havoc across a blackened, desolate landscape. Fires burn in the distance, and the sea is littered with shipwrecks.
> A few leafless trees stud hills otherwise bare of vegetation. Fish lie rotting on the shores of a corpse-choked pond. Art historian James Snyder emphasizes the "scorched, b...
[ ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triumph_of_Death#/media/File:Thetriumphofdeath.jpg)
Of course, much more recently there was the film **The Seventh Seal**.
I know of things inspired by the aftermath of the Black Death, but I honestly can’t think of anything directly driven by that Great Dying.
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### Author:  [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/4 "2015-09-15T17:31:13Z")
You might start here: [Black Death in medieval culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death_in_medieval_culture)
> [@](#):
>
> A Medieval Song about the Plague
>
> “A sickly season,” the merchant said,
> “The town I left was filled with dead,
> and everywhere these queer red flies
> crawled upon the corpses’ eyes,
> eating them away.”
>
> “Fair make you sick,” the merchant said,
> “They crawled upon the wine and bread.
> Pale priests with oil and books,
> bulging eyes and crazy looks,
> dropping like the flies.”
>
> “I had to laugh,” the merchant said,
> "The doctors purged, and dosed, and bled;
> "And proved through solemn disputation
> "The cause lay in some constellation.
> “Then they began to die.”
>
> “First they sneezed,” the merchant said,
> “And then they turned the brightest red,
> Begged for water, then fell back.
> With bulging eyes and face turned black,
> they waited for the flies.”
>
> “I came away,” the merchant said,
> "You can’t do business with the dead.
> "So I’ve come here to ply my trade.
> “You’ll find this to be a fine brocade…”
>
> And then he sneezed
from [here](http://www.historyofpainters.com/black_death.htm)
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/5 "2015-09-15T17:35:10Z")
[Ring around the rosie/A pocket full of posies/Ashes, ashes/We all fall down](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ring+Around+The+Rosey)
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/6 "2015-09-15T17:37:17Z")
A movie called (appropriately enough), “[Black Death](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1181791/?ref_=nv_sr_1),” is extremely grim and violent but is set in the middle of the Plague (1348). It’s almost oppressive but it’s beautifully done. See it sober, depressant usage is not advised. 😉
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/7 "2015-09-15T17:48:58Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#):
>
> [Ring around the rosie/A pocket full of posies/Ashes, ashes/We all fall down](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ring+Around+The+Rosey)
Annie, I’m sorry to dispute this, but The Master had a piece on this in his second book, “More of the SD,” and the song signifies nothing. I can’t find the article using keywords, but it was part of a “quiz the members” feature in that book. I’ll try to find the specific SD entry later on today. Stay tuned.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/8 "2015-09-15T18:00:03Z")
I remember reading that article. But many people still believe that explanation.
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### Author:  [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/9 "2015-09-15T18:38:32Z")
“[Der Totentan](https://www.google.ch/search?q=totentanz&biw=1748&bih=1308&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0CDIQsARqFQoTCKqp3L7P-ccCFZMX2wods0cGOQ#tbm=isch&q=totentanz+mittelalter)z”, German for “Dance of Death” is one of the motifs that became frequent during and after the black death and influenced art up to today.
“[Pestlieder](https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/FPJX4OHDKAVXQRUOWDODYAHFZTGRCNSZ)” are religious songs that cry for god’s help against the disease or praise him for having helped to survive. Swiss reformer and bible translator Huldrych Zwingli, who caught the disease when caring for the sick and dying when the Black Death broke out in Zürich in 1519, but recovered, wrote[this song](http://www.zh.ref.ch/a-z/zwingli/lexikon-p/pestlied)
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### Author:  [@carlowplayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlowplayer)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/10 "2015-09-16T06:49:31Z")
also was ring a ring a rosie really about the Black Death or not?
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/11 "2015-09-16T13:12:49Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas]
I remember reading that article. But many people still believe that explanation.
[/QUOTE]
The fact that people believe it doesn’t make it so.
[From the wiki article:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_o%27_Roses)
[QUOTE]
Several folklore scholars regard the theory as baseless for several reasons:
[ol][li]The plague explanation did not appear until the mid-twentieth century.[15][/li]
[li]The symptoms described do not fit especially well with the Great Plague.[20][23][/li]
[li]The great variety of forms makes it unlikely that the modern form is the most ancient one, and the words on which the interpretation are based are not found in many of the earliest records of the rhyme (see above).[21][24][/li]
[li]European and 19th-century versions of the rhyme suggest that this “fall” was not a literal falling down, but a curtsy or other form of bending movement that was common in other dramatic singing games.[25][/ol][/li][/QUOTE]
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/12 "2015-09-16T14:40:42Z")
Since this is about art, let’s move it to Cafe Society.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/13 "2015-09-16T14:46:33Z")
_Monty Python and the Holy Grail._
—Bring out yer dead.
—Here’s one.
—That’ll be ninepence.
—I’m not dead.
—What?
—Nothing. There’s your ninepence.
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### Author:  [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/14 "2015-09-16T17:38:39Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> Annie, I’m sorry to dispute this, but The Master had a piece on this in his second book, “More of the SD,” and the song signifies nothing. I can’t find the article using keywords, but it was part of a “quiz the members” feature in that book. I’ll try to find the specific SD entry later on today. Stay tuned.
[**Snopes**](http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.asp).
---
### Author:  [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/15 "2015-09-16T21:09:07Z")
It’s not a song, but Chaucer’s _Pardoner’s Tale_ references the plague.
And it’s not from the late Middle Ages (keep in mind that the plague didn’t _go away_ after 1350; there were frequent outbreaks for the next few centuries, though none of them were as virulent as the first one), but Thomas Nashe’s “In Time of Pestilence” is a song written shortly after an outbreak in 1592:
> [@](#):
>
> Adieu, farewell, earth’s bliss;
> This world uncertain is;
> Fond are life’s lustful joys;
> Death proves them all but toys;
> None from his darts can fly;
> I am sick, I must die.
> Lord, have mercy on us!
>
> Rich men, trust not in wealth,
> Gold cannot buy you health;
> Physic himself must fade.
> All things to end are made,
> The plague full swift goes by;
> I am sick, I must die.
> Lord, have mercy on us!
>
> Beauty is but a flower
> Which wrinkles will devour;
> Brightness falls from the air;
> Queens have died young and fair;
> Dust hath closed Helen’s eye.
> I am sick, I must die.
> Lord, have mercy on us!
>
> Strength stoops unto the grave,
> Worms feed on Hector’s brave;
> Swords may not fight with fate,
> Earth still holds ope her gate.
> “Come, come!” the bells do cry.
> I am sick, I must die.
> Lord, have mercy on us.
>
> Wit with his wantonness
> Tasteth death’s bitterness;
> Hell’s executioner
> Hath no ears for to hear
> What vain art can reply.
> I am sick, I must die.
> Lord, have mercy on us.
>
> Haste, therefore, each degree,
> To welcome destiny;
> Heaven is our heritage,
> Earth but a player’s stage;
> Mount we unto the sky.
> I am sick, I must die.
> Lord, have mercy on us.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/16 "2015-09-16T21:37:12Z")
From the current Broadway production of _Something Rotten_:
_Black Death!
It’s gonna get ya! It’s the
Black Death!
It’s gonna hit ya with those
Blisters, oozin’ like syrup;
That pesky little pestilence
is killing half of Europe! It’s the
Black Death!
And it’s comin’ for youuuu…_
[Here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rks_ACx1Dw&t=5m0s)
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/17 "2015-09-16T21:59:51Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> **The Triumph of Death** (circa 1562) by Pieter Breughel the Elder
>
> [The Triumph of Death - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triumph_of_Death)
My favorite piece of art! Well, second only to the Ferrari 330LMB, that is.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/18 "2015-09-16T22:02:50Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> From the current Broadway production of _Something Rotten_:
>
> _Black Death!
> It’s gonna get ya! It’s the
> Black Death!
> It’s gonna hit ya with those
> Blisters, oozin’ like syrup;
> That pesky little pestilence
> is killing half of Europe! It’s the
> Black Death!
> And it’s comin’ for youuuu…_
>
> [Here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rks_ACx1Dw&t=5m0s)
Jeez, I wish you had been kidding.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2015, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/19 "2015-09-17T04:38:04Z")
nm
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2015, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-that-was-inspired-by-the-black-death/731369/20 "2015-09-17T06:25:15Z")
[The Periwig maker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periwig_Maker) is a stopmotion animated film, set in London, during the great plague.
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