Visual Cultures of Death in Central Europe

Contents Acknowledgements ix A Note on Proper Names xii List of Maps and Figures xiii Glossary xvi Introduction: The Central European Age of Contemplation and Commemoration 1 1 Frameworks for Visual Cultures of Death in Poland-Lithuania 16 Artistic Patronage in Poland-Lithuania 18 The Commonwealth and the Counter-Reformation 23 The Central European Printing Revolution 33 Plague and Warfare 40 Conclusion 52 2 Death Personified: The Skeleton and the Printed Image 54 Anatomical Treatises and the Melancholy Death 56 The Triumph of Death 65 Allegories of Death: The Wheel of Death 75 Conclusion 87 3 The Dance of Death in Central Europe: Indigenous Variations on a Familiar Theme 91 Dancing with Death in Medieval Western Europe and beyond 93 Performing the Dance of Death in Medieval Poland: Master Polikarpus's Dialogue with Death 99 Death and the Friars: The Role of the Observant Franciscans 102 Conclusion 117 4 Triumphant Funerals: Ceremonial, Coffin Portraits and Catafalques 121 Processional Pomp: Heraldic Displays and the Theatre of Death 123 Church Decorations and the Castrum Doloris 131 Coffin Portraits: Images of the Spiritual body 146 Commemoration in Context: The Burials of the Opalinski Magnate Family 154 Conclusion 164 5 Architectures and Landscapes of Death: Funerary Chapels and Jerusalem Sites 167 The Introduction of the Domed Chapel to Poland and Lithuania: Genesis and Symbolism 169 Central European Landscapes of Death: Jerusalem Sites 175 Decorating the Seventeenth-century Funerary Chapel: Sculpting the Passion and Personalising the Dance of Death 185 Conclusion 203 Conclusion 206 Appendix: The Krakow Taniec smierci (Dance of Death): Transcription and Translation of Textual Cartouches 213 Bibliography 217 Index 249