“Painting responded to the plague-darkened vision of the human condition provoked by repeated exposure to sudden, inexplicable death. Tuscan painters reacted against Giotto's serenity, preferring sterner, hieratic portrayals of religious scenes and figures. The "Dance of Death" became a common theme for art; and several other macabre motifs entered the European repertory.”

— William H. McNeill

Source: Plagues and Peoples (1976), Ch.4 "The Impact of the Mongol Empire on Shifting Disease Balances, 1200-1500".

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William H. McNeill 43

Canadian historian 1917–2016

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