B27 T FINE ARTS FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2005 EEKENDArtS LEISURE Ebe Xeut pork aro ART REVIEW In Wo chael I comin Desperately tercel Strick left; al Charl∎ Painting Twos The Plague By HOLLAND COTTER WORCESTER, MASS. OME of us thought the end of a world had come when AIDS started pick- ing off friends and lovers in the 1980's, and in a sense it had. A cer- tain world really did end. Yet even that experience left us unequipped to imag- ine the kind of despair today blanketing parts of Africa, where the disease has spread mon- very s strously, reducing whole communities to less the pa than a memory, to nothing. of pair Pandemics of one kind or another have P. always terrorized human history. And where a divir science has been helpless and politics mute, tamen religion and art have responded. That re- now: r sponse is the subject of "Hope and Healing: ble of worke in 590, zens id city s Legen pal foi emper chael sword . T1 Hope Worce OME of us thought the end of a world had come when AIDS started pick- ing off friends and lovers in the 1980's, and in a sense it had. A cer- tain world really did end. Yet even that experience left us unequipped to imag- ine the kind of despair today blanketing parts of Africa, where the disease has spread mon- very strously, reducing whole communities to less the IN than a memory, to nothing. of pat Pandemics of one kind or another have always terrorized human history. And where a divi science has been helpless and politics mute, tame] religion and art have responded. That re- now: sponse is the subject of "Hope and Healing: ble c work( V in 59( zens : city Lege! pal f( empe chael swor( 1 Hope Worc adopt appe frequ other embi renc( ed fo fame Blacl Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague, 1500- 1800," at the Worcester Art Museum, a small, probe penumbral, single-minded exhibition that on tr does at least one thing museum shows almost congi never do. were It presents mainstream Christian "high cluck art," church art, in terms of function rather the a than form. The 35 paintings included are con- bleec sidered as devotional icons rather than as old selik master monuments. They are viewed from an existential rather than a doctrinal or so- rich ciopolitical perspective; through the eyes of the t a believer for whom a picture of the Virgin is the a moral lesson and an emotional encounter calle before it is a Tiepolo or a Tintoretto. rais( Although Americans have relatively lit- werE tle trouble seeing African or Indian sculpture filth: — art that isn't really "us" — in this light, Ju- tend deo-Christian religious art is another story. It's as if we are afraid of what it once was, or embarrassed by it, or simply unaware of its Photographs courtesy of Worcester Art Museum WEEKENDArtSMIr ..■••••••■ New pork auto In Worcester: Sirani's "Mi- chael the Archangel Over- coming Satan," left; Van Dyck's "Saint Rosalie In- -ely terceding for the Plague- Stricken of Palermo," far left; and Grammatica's "St. Charles Borromeo and Two Angels," below. R STER, MASS. d of a world tarted pick- ers in the had. A cer- d. Yet even ed to imag- keting parts ;pread mon- very specific power to answer, in the case•of iities to less the paintings gathered here, a culture's dry of pain. - lother have Pain in the form of pestilence is taken:as . And where a divine rebuke to human sin in the Old Tes- &tics mute, tament, a directive telling us to shape up, d. That re- now: admit our guilt, change our ways, hum- ad Healing: ble ourselves. And sometimes contrition worked. When a shattering plague struck Rome in 590, Pope Gregory the Great led the citi- zens in a penitential procession through the city streets, petitioning heaven for relief, Legend has it that as he approached the pi- pal fortress that was once the tomb of the emperor Hadrian, he saw the archangel Mi- chael perched on its summit, sheathing his sword. Soon afterward, the crisis lifted. The image of the archangel was quickly Hope and Healing Worcester Art Museum very specific power to answer, in the case ,of the paintings gathered here, a culture's Cry of pain. Pain in the form of pestilence is taken:as a divine rebuke to human sin in the Old Tes- tament, a directive telling us to shape ug, now: admit our guilt, change our ways, hum- ble ourselves. And sometimes contrition worked. When a shattering plague struck Rome in 590, Pope Gregory the Great led the citi- zens in a penitential procession through the city streets, petitioning heaven for relief. Legend has it that as he approached the pa- pal fortress that was once the tomb of the emperor Hadrian, he saw the archangel Mi- chael perched on its summit, sheathing his sword. Soon afterward, the crisis lifted. - The image of the archangel was quickly Hope and Healing Worcester Art Museum adopted as a talisman against disease, to be appealed to when needed. And the need was frequent. For centuries, one part of Europe or an- other was either recovering from a plague, embroiled in one or anticipating a recur- rence. Cholera and typhus probably account- ed for some of these calamities, but the most famous killer was the bubonic plague, the Black Death. Transmitted by flea-infested rats, it probably arrived in Italy in the 14th century on trading ships from Asia. It spread fast in congested cities, and its primary symptoms were unmistakable and grotesque. They in- cluded agonizing swellings at the neck, undei; the arms and in the groin, and subcutaneous bleeding that turned parts of the body a brui- selike black. The only sure cure was avoidance. The rich hightailed it to the countryside. Inside the towns, quarantine went into effect, wits the sick isolated in prisonlike infirmar41 called lazarettos. Named for the man Jett* raised from the dead in the Gospels, t were often hopeless places, crowded filthy. Confinement could be a death set tence. .* Or so say reports from the 16th centlytt Continued on Page 29 • Photographs courtesy of Worcester Art Museum .* ART REVIEW Painting the Great Plagues, Hoping for Some Miracles tying a large cross. He is the subject of nu- Continued From Weekend Page 27 merous pictures, including some, like one done by Antiveduto Grammatica around onward, by people who witnessed epidemics 1619, that have the immediacy of portrai- in Rome, Naples, Venice and elsewhere. In ture. each city, holy images were marshaled as a And then there are the icons, like Anthony first line of defense. Some were old and Van Dyck's paintings of the Sicilian St. time-tested, others whipped up on the spot. Rosalie, clearly spun from the air. Rosalie Still others were produced as tokens of was an obscure figure even by provincial thanks once danger had passed, as was the standards. But when her remains were for- case with Guido Reni's towering painting of tuitously "discovered" near Palermo in St. Michael trouncing Satan, a copy of 1624, the year the city was hit by plague, she which, by Giovanni Andrea Sirani, is in the was elevated to official intercessor on be- show. half of the city. Many saints in addition to Michael were Van Dyck, who was in Palermo at the enlisted in the cause. St. Sebastian was a time, was asked to create an image of her, standby. A young soldier sentenced to death and he cooked up a shrewd all-purpose pas- in ancient Rome for his religious beliefs, he tiche. He gave her a Franciscan-brown robe had been tied to a tree, shot with arrows, and the long, tangled hair of a Magdalene, then nursed back to health by fellow Chris- but also a healthy peaches-and-cream com- tians. Both the method of his punishment — plexion and a look of self-assured bliss as the arrow was an ancient plague symbol — she soared heavenward. • and the fact of his recovery made him a nat- The concept was a big hit. The enterpris- ural as a protector. ing artist spun out several variations on it, He appears several times in the exhibi- and two are in the show, which has been or- tion. And in a deftly sketched oil painting by ganized by an impressive quartet of schol- Jacopo Bassano, probably intended as a cer- ars: Gauvin Alexander Bailey of Clark Uni- emonial banner, he is accompanied by a fel- versity; Pamela M. Jones of the University low disease-fighter, St. Roch. of Massachusetts, Boston; Franco Morman- Roch was actually a product of plague- do of Boston College; and Thomas W. panic. He first turns up in popular culture in Worcester of the College of the Holy Cross. the 14th century, with a reputation for hav- Devotion alone, however, wasn't always ing cared for and cured victims in Italy be- enough. You said your prayers, and the fore catching the disease himself. Thanks to plague raged on. So some people pursued the miraculous ministrations of a pet dog, the more proactive, practical option of pious he regained his health. But he never forgot deeds. And no deeds were more usefully hu- • his ordeal: he is traditionally depicted point- mane than the so-called corporal acts of ing to a plague swelling or sore on his thigh. mercy. Some hero-saints were historical near- The church defined seven such acts.