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The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the deaths of an estimated 75-200 million people, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. The Black Death was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is spread by fleas, but during the Black Death it probably also took a secondary form, spread by person-to-person contact via aerosols, causing pneumonic plague.
Artists have often tried to make sense of the random destruction brought by plagues. Their interpretation of the horrors they witnessed has changed radically over time. In Europe, art depicting the Black Death was initially seen as a warning of punishment that the plague would bring to sinners and societies. The centuries that followed brought a new role for the artist. Their task was to encourage empathy with plague victims, who were later associated with Christ himself, in order to exalt and incentivize the courageous caregiver. Through their creativity, artists have wrestled with questions about the fragility of life, the relationship to the divine, as well as the role of caregivers. Today, these historical images offer us a chance to reflect on these questions and to ask our own.