Manipulating the Sacred…..again!
Merry will be our guide through this article on the recurrent outbreak of the Bubonic plague and the saints invoked to save the day. Be ready to identify your favorite plague saint!
1. What relationship did Millard Meiss suggest existed between the Black Death and the art that it engendered?
2. In what ways are Trexler, Johnson, and this author alike in their views about images and how they operate? How do they differ?
3. Why does Sebastian’s status as a “two-time loser” qualify him as the plague saint “extraordinaire!” ?
4. Why is the manner in which Sebastian portrayed a “supernatural contradiction” and why did this offer such hope to plague sufferers?
5. What did St. Roch have going for him as a plague saint? The Madonna della Misericordia?
6. Did Christ/God’s vindictiveness surprise you?
7. When did the Virgin become a Feminist and what was the source of her transformation? What is the source of her power?
8. Unpack the fresco painted by Benozzo Gozzoli in 1464 for the Augustinians of San Gimignano (p. 527). Why is this such an extraordinary image?
9. How did images function in the Renaissance during the intermittent outbreaks of the plague?
Source:
http://donnasadlerasc.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/manipulating-the-sacred-again/