Talismanic Images.

The Great Plague that struck Europe in 1347-50 - known throughout history as the Black Death - was only the first of many cyclical outbreaks that would have repeatedly devastated Italy and Europe over the following four centuries. Constantly threatened by unpredictable outbursts of new epidemics, 15th and 16th century Italians tried to cope by various means with the invisible enemy of the plague.

This exhibition explores the role of images originating from the experience and expectation of the plague. Plague-related images are not merely illustrations of the horrifying effects of the epidemic disease. Rather, they transmit positive sentiments and, above all, they become instruments of healing and protection. Commissioned by confraternities, local authorities, or individual patrons, and sometimes carried close to the body, devotional images functioned as physical intercessory tools with the divine. Through them Renaissance Italians invoked the assistance of the heavenly figures of the Christian faith, and through them, it was thought, divine powers operated within society.

Whearease the artworks on display are constructed of various of materials and are sourced from different locations, all share the same talismanic agency against death and disease. Demostrating at the same time the permeation of images in the daily life of Renaissance people and the power they held over the lives of the faithful.