rderstorms. s 68. MARVLAN : Partly sunny. v 70. 9t bington -1 Paces may , leas o • sde rae 254 R MD TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2005 VI a WashlOgton. (See bay , ierts Iraqis Fail likely To Meet Face Constitutioi ; Fight Democrats Deadline ittle as Futile Lawmakers Approve Seven-Day Extension LLEN MILBANK By ELLEN KNICICMEYER and OMAR FEKEIE Post Staff Writers Washington Post Foreign Service ats have decided that un- BAGHDAD, Aug. 15 — Iraqi factions is an unexpected devel- leaders failed to meet Monday's deadline fo the weeks ahead, they drafting a constitution in an often-rancorou nch a major fight to block debate that appeared to have widened rift Tie Court nomination of among Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish and secula toberts Jr., according to groups while slipping from a timeline pushe Senate aides and party hard by the United States as it eyes troo withdrawals. es of interviews in recent Unable to resolve differences on sue than a dozen Democratic major issues as the role of religion by the mic Lnd aides who are inti- night deadline, political leaders turned t volved in deliberations Iraq's transitional parliament for a one-wee :egy said that they see no extension, winning unanimous agreemen at most Democratic sen- BY MICHAEL ROBINSON-CHAVEZ — THE WASHINGTON POST with just 23 minutes to spare. Irepared to expend politi- A protester pleads his case to Maj.Yitzhak Nachmani, head of a military unit that scuffled with pullout foes at the Neve Dekalim settlement. Iraqi officials presented the extension as in what is widely seen as a success. They smiled and shook hands amort t to derail the nomination. themselves and with U.S. Ambassador Za h they expect to subject may Khalilzad, who strolled on the floor Bush's nominee to tough Eviction Notices Are Served in Gaza parliament ahead of the late-night vote. g at confirmation hear- "This to my mind is real democracy, an THE WASHINGTON POST NATIONAL NEWS Letter From Worcester Plague Art Resonates in Post-9/11 World WORCESTER, Mass. ome to this fine and hilly old indus- trial city and find a meditation on terror rendered in Renaissance and C baroque oils. There are paintings of babies seeking succor from plague-ridden mothers, of the saintly tending to the mortally ill, and of men and women recoiling from death's touch. Franco Mormando, a soft-spoken for- mer Jesuit, has assembled this exhibit — "Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague, 1500 to 1800" — at the Worcester Art Museum, and it features a great many artistic worthies, from Tiepolo to Canaletto to Van Dyck. But what gives it a haunting and modem resonance is the evocation of contagion and helplessness, and the fear that is their hand- maiden. "For 300 years plague hung over the lives of Europeans like an omnipresent cloud," said Mormando, who is an Italian studies professor at Boston College. "I had just be- gun assembling this exhibit when Septem- ber 11th came along and we were living in this state of utter helplessness." He nodded toward the paintings, arrayed in cool and shadowed halls. "The preoccu- Martinelli's "Memento Mori" is in the Worcester Art Museum show "Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a Time of Plag pations began to feel very familiar." In an age of subway bombs and anthrax young man, eyes wide, takes on death's gray ralistic scene of a young woman pouring wa- much as the modem ( and avian flu, when thousands of Americans pallor, and a young woman stares at him ter from a brass jug into a poor boy's bowl delayed releasing word pass waking hours trying to manage their with a palpable gasp of horror. while a crippled old man awaits his turn. It's for fear of the econom fears , Mormando and three fellow curators Plague was the visitor half expected for an allusion to the bubonic plague, which vis- rich fled in sealed earn — from the University of Massachusetts, hundreds of years. While historical ac- ited an unquenchable thirst upon its vic- las, and the poor and an Clark University and the College of the Holy counts tend to dwell on grand outbreaks — tims. The charity of those willing to brave found themselves locke Cross — have fashioned a strikingly timely the civilization-altering Black Death of 1348 the plague was considered a church-sancti- in odorous and wretche exhibit from 37 paintings drawn from Euro- and the epidemics of 1575 and 1630 — nary fied corporal work of mercy. pitals known as lazarett pean and American collections. One might a year passed without plague breaking out Other clues are easier to discern. Plague Most accepted the argue that Renaissance Italy is so distant as in some walled town or port city. paintings often depict a man holding his that the pestilence was to offer little insight into our own anxieties, "It's no exaggeration to say that when the nose in an attempt to forestall the stench on his sinful and disobe Mormando acknowledged. Italians were not living through from the pus-filled bodies of the dy- hope was to find a saii But the corrosive anxiety in these paint- the plague they were anxiously ing. (Anyone who smelled the heavenly intercession. ings feels current. awaiting its return," Mormando strange odors near Manhattan's "The popes, the can "The specter of terrorist-disseminated said. "There was no such thing as a Ground Zero in the days after the viewed medicine as wel plagues, the anthrax and smallpox has kept `little outbreak.' When the plague towers collapsed and burned ultimate cause of the pla us in a state of collective anxiety, if not pan- came there was no escape." would feel a twinge of horrible rec- Mormando said. "It wat ic," Mormando said. "We have come to real- Monnando, 49, grew up in an ognition.) It is perhaps curious nation." ize, as they did, that fear is our new reality. Italian neighborhood in the shad- that, given his subject, Mormando He paused and addec "The question," he continued, "is how ow of the Brooklyn Bridge in seems by nature an optimist. He react to the terrible tim this fear forces us to change our reality. For downtown Manhattan and came It "began to feel believes in art's transcendence and evil like to destroy the g a brief time we had confidence that science up with the idea for this exhibit — very familiar," its ability to illuminate the human simplistic and self-conso would overcome anything. Now we return which runs through Sept 25 — curator Franco condition. In this he is not so re- So saints cried, peas to something older." from his work in Renaissance and Mormando says. mote from the Renaissance Ital- painted — and still anxi( The plague paintings are characteris- baroque art. He had helped re- ians, who conceived of art as a spir- mic cloud while tens of tically Italian, the gruesome nature of the discover a painting by Tmtoretto that de- itual remedy in the face of unspeakable prepared this exhibit an subject never extinguishing the beauty and picted the raising of the leper Lazarus from horror. tery modern world arm delicacy of the oils chosen, or the artist's ap- the dead, one of the most spectacular of "In Italy, the prevailing ethos was that mando despair? preciation of classical form. A large and Jesus' miracles. you painted for catharsis," he said, "and to He shook his head. H handsome canvas by Giovanni Martinelli ti- "I discovered that many paintings de- give people hope through beauty." der recently after 20 yea tled "Memento Mori" ("Remember, you picted Lazarus, because he was the plague But as Mormando researched plague art dent of his church — in shall die") hangs in the first room of the ex- saint," Mormando said. "Curiosity got the in the days after Sept. 11, he noticed less sal- doned faith. hibition. Handsomely attired young dandies better of me, and as I researched I found art utary parallels. When a pandemic descend- "Plague has been witl and two women make merry around a table filled with references to the plague, to the ed upon them, Italians gave security prece- vived," he said. "How we laden with grapes and peaches and berry point of consuming preoccupation." dence over all else. There were quarantines plague can define us. Ot tarts when from the dark shadows a skele- Mormando looked for clues with a detec- and censorship — town fathers feared that find inspiration." ton approaches holding an hourglass. A tive's eye. Bernardo Strozzi paints a natu- talk of plague might wreck their economy, )N POST NATIONAL NEWS Worcester tgue Art Resonates in Post-9/11 World WORCESTER, Mass. s fine and hilly old indus- nd find a meditation on lered in Renaissance and ls. Ltings of babies seeking e-ridden mothers, of the the mortally ill, and of recoiling from death's mando, a soft-spoken for- ssembled this exhibit — ig: Painting in Italy in a [500 to 1800" — at the iseum, and it features a c worthies, from Tiepolo Dyck. it a haunting and modern vocation of contagion and he fear that is their hand- )1ague hung over the lives an omnipresent cloud," who is an Italian studies on College. "I had just be- ds exhibit when Septem- ng and we were living in telplessness." NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART and the paintings, arrayed wed halls. "The preoccu- Martinelli's "Memento Mori" is in the Worcester Art Museum show "Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague, 1500-1800." el very familiar." bway bombs and anthrax young man, eyes wide, takes on death's gray ralistic scene of a young woman pouring wa- much as the modern Chinese government n thousands of Americans pallor, and a young woman stares at him ter from a brass jug into a poor boy's bowl delayed releasing word of the SARS virus s trying to manage their with a palpable gasp of horror.