Research On The Evolution Of Plague Images Since The Middle Ages

Accompanied with the development of human history,plagues have always changed the course of human civilization and have exerted far-reaching effects on the ways of people’s life and even the operation of the entire society.Disasters constantly deepen human’s understanding about the world and also prompt human beings to reflect on themselves.From the Black Death in the Middle Ages to the outbreak of COVID-19 since the end of 2019,a series of changes have taken place in the Plague images in terms of content,form and purpose of expression.This series of changes also reflects development of the relationship between mankind’s understanding of the plague and the production of images.In order to explore the evolution process and the reasons for the changes,this paper,based on the research method of iconography,takes the historical development as the context since the Middle Ages,and analyzes the plague images from different angles: medical history,art history,history of social development and cultural history.This paper focuses on plague images about those famous plagues with a wide range of influences,such as the Black Death,smallpox,Spanish flu,and the COVID-19 which is currently ravaging the world.Through the analysis of the form and characteristics of such images,the internal connection between human’s understanding of the plague and the production of plague images in different historical periods is further revealed,so as to explore the patterns of evolution of plague images.This paper finds out that at first,plague images have continuously appeared during the occurrence of plagues as well as a long time after the disasters.Second,plague images respond to the impact of the plague on human civilization from various aspects.From the different fields and purposes of image production,the various meaningful interpretations based on religious painting,artistic expression,scientific research and historical documents can be brought to plague images.Finally,with the outbreak of plagues in different times and the evolution of human history,the appearance and purpose of plague images have also undergone tremendous changes.Then the following three conclusions can be drawn according to the above study.1)The evolution of history has changed the plague images in terms of visual forms and ways of transmission.2)The plague images have unique features of themes and times,showing the comprehensive understanding of the plague and different demands of diverse social groups.3)From the perspective of the evolution and development of plague images,some patterns are found as the following: in the first phase,religious atonement was the main feature depicted in the image,and then the focus turned to the concern and expression of daily life.As a result,the emotions and thoughts represented in the images gradually changed from fear to reflection,parody,care and comfort of daily life,which has shown the increasing humanism.