Transition Between Life and Afterlife

8/10/2019 Transition Between Life and Afterlife

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Transition between Life and Afterlife: Analyzing The Triumph of Deathin the Camposanto

of PisaLorenzo Carletti and Francesca PolacciAbstract

What is more vivid and earthly than death? A dead body does not involve problems of representation oftranscendence. If death is meant not as an ending point but as a transition beteen life and afterlife! the theoreticalproblem is more comple". The Triumph of Death#$%%&'($)! frescoed by *uffalmacco inside the Camposanto ofPisa! shos a personification of +eath! half human and half devil! that connects to different semantic fields, -life-and -nondeath-. Its terrible figure acts as an agent of transformation from the earthly life to the ne life! hellish orheavenly. everal scrolls! mostly along the frame! underline this interpretation, ords and images establish a nelevel of communication! acting as a guide to the beholder to loo/ inside himself and get ready for the conse0uencesof dying.

What is more vivid and earthly than death?$It is very easy to represent death as the landing place of a process! ase can see in many or/s of art of the Western orld. 1ne thin/s of the Death of Maratpainted by 2ac0ues3Louis+avid in $45% #fig. $)! here the an body of the revolutionary man! ith a visible ound on his chest! lies in hisbathtub 6ust after his murder. 7he bloody dagger! abandoned by the /iller! Charlotte Corday! lies near the leaning armof 8arat. 7his is one of the most popular representations of a dead body! hich is directly lin/ed iththeEntombment of Christby Caravaggio #$&9:'%) for the position of the arm in the foreground #fig. :). +avidintroduces the 0uotation from Caravaggio to sublimate his political hero into an ;alter Christus!< a ne unreligiousmartyr. =evertheless! both artists painted the body of the to protagonists>2ean3Paul 8arat and 2esus Christ>asseen soon after death.

#4(*)Figure 1. 2ac0ues3Louis +avid!Death of Marat! $45%! oil on canvas! 8us@es oyau" des *eau"3Arts! *russels.

#&&*)Figure .8ichelangelo 8erisi! called Caravaggio!Entombment of Christ! $&9:'%! oil on canvas! Pinacoteca Baticana! ome

We can see corpses in various or/s of art of different ages and different sub6ects! religious or not, battles! ars!depositions! entombments! Piet! slaughters of the innocents! and many others. A dead body itself does not involveproblems of representation of transcendence. If! hoever! death is meant not as an ending point but as atransformation! a transition beteen life and afterlife! the theoretical problem is more comple". 7he passing aay ofa human body clearly shos signs of death as a process, but the visual arts>e"cept cinema>cannot represent the


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#:94*)Figure (. Francesco 7raini! Crucifixion! ca. $%%9! fresco! Camposanto monumentale! Pisa. eproduced from upino

#:$9*)Figure ). *uonamico *uffalmacco!"esurrection!Incredulity of #aint Thomas!Ascension of Christ! $%%&'($! fresco!Camposanto monumentale! Pisa.

#$G$*)Figure *. Carlo Lasinio!Last $ud%ment by &uonamico &uffalmacco in the Camposanto! $G$:! engraving. eproduced fromLasinio #$G$:! unpaginated).

#$&:*)Figure +. *uonamico *uffalmacco! Thebais! $%%&'($! fresco! Camposanto monumentale! Pisa.

8any other painters folloed! and the main decoration ended ith *enozzo Eozzoli! ho or/ed in Pisa foralmost tenty years in the second half of the fifteenth century. $:7he high humidity of the place and the e"halationscoming from the graves seriously damaged all the frescoes inside the Camposanto! hich has been continuously

restored and partially altered. ince the beginning! the graveyard has been a never3ending or/yard.*eteen the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Camposanto became a favorite place of travelers! and e

have a large number of descriptions in literature and the figurative arts.$%In $G$: the scholar Carlo Lasinio #$4H5'$GHH) etched all the frescoes in forty plates!$(intending to record their status! but obviously giving his oninterpretation to these or/s of arts. Lasinio dre every single story! avoiding reproducing the frames paintedaround each one of them.

Lasinios boo/s of etchings ere published in many languages! and travelers doing the Erand 7our arrived inlarger numbers year after year! mostly to see the Triumph of Death! described by the *aede/ers. At the end of thenineteenth century! a detailed photographic campaign of every story! illustrating also the painted frames! as realizedith the same conservative purpose of the engravings. 7his is a fundamental documentation left to us! because on


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2uly :4! $5((! during the econd World War! a terrible fire destroyed the roof of the building! ruining manysarcophagi and most of the frescoes! some of hich soon collapsed. 7hese old pictures became the only sourcesavailable for restoring the image of the paintings and part of the architecture.

After the ar! but still in a situation of emergency! the restorers first>because of its celebrity>detachedthe Triumph of Deathfrom the all! and afterard theLast $ud%mentand theThebais! bringing them to theirlaboratories #*aracchini $55&). 7hey forgot the painted frames! hile the other frescoes ere detached in thefolloing yearsD and in the $5&9s a special e"hibition room as built ne"t to the Camposanto in order to displaythese stories by *uffalmacco. ecently! a ne restoration is bringing the frescoes bac/ to their original place ithin

the e"ternal galleries! as ill also happen in the near future to the *uffalmacco cycle.$H

The ,anishing of -arthly Times and the -ternal Consistence of ea&enly Life

ntering the Camposanto before 2uly :4! $5((! e ould have found the ide painted surface of the Thebaisonour right hand #fig. H). Wal/ing along the gallery! seeing the Crucifixionin front of us! e ould have reached firstof all the'ellith theLast $ud%ment! and then the Triumph of Death. Apart from the Crucifixion! the narro gallerydid not allo a frontal general vie of all the frescoes! and the vieer had to concentrate only on single episodes#Caleca $55&).

7his cycle as conceived by *uffalmacco to be seen in this ay because he decided to use all the spaceavailable! ithout dividing it in to stories as he did on the eastern gallery for the "esurrectionand theIncredulity

of #aint Thomas. 7his interesting morphological choice invites us to e"amine the relation beteen the movement ofthe beholder and the architectural space of the gallery in connection ith the medieval conception of time and space.*uffalmacco arranged the stories of Christ after death in order to let the beholder have a complete overvie in spiteof the narroness of the gallery. *ut hy did he not ma/e the same choice for the cycle of the Triumph of Death?

Probably one of the ansers is *uffalmaccos unusual sub6ects. 7he audience of that time as used to recognizethe"esurrection! for e"ample! as a singular scene ith a specific iconography! isolated from the other episodes ofthe =e 7estament. 7he same audience as not e0ually familiar ith the advent of death and its conse0uences!neither ith the episodes of the Joly Fathers in the desert. At this point the movement of the beholder becomescrucial! because this part of the southern gallery as a sort of nave ith the main altar underneath the Crucifixion.everal processions of Flagellants brotherhoods are documented in the first half of the fourteenth century! and thefaithful al/ed along the nave from the Thebaisto the presbytery! thus having a partial vie of singular episodes. $&

7he peculiar architectural space and its religious function suggested to *uffalmacco to set several stories indifferent places! here various groups of people play a single act of the hole drama. 7his arrangement reproducesthe traditional setting of medieval theater called loci deputati#designated places) here single episodes of the storyere staged #8olinari$5&$D 8ervyn $5G%D *ernardi $55$). +uring Joly Wee/! for instance! a procession passedthrough the ton! every s0uare became the stage for a particular episode of the Passion! and the spectator couldmove from one place to another folloing a discontinuous temporal lineD e can find visual translations of thistheatrical conception in several paintings! as ell as in later =orthern uropean or/s such as The assion ofChristby 8emling #fig. $9).

#$(%*)Figure 1/. Jans 8emling! #cenes from the assion of Christ! $(49'4$! oil on panel! Ealleria abauda! 7urin.

In the medieval conception! space and time are phenomenal categories in strict correspondence ithtranscendence #chlosser $5:%). Any episode of the Triumph of Deathor/s as an exemplum#moral e"ample)! aarning to the faithful to loo/ ithin and to thin/ about our fleeting nature, this is the general theme that brings allthe episodes together! although they do not necessarily have a narrative conse0uence. ome of the episodes! instead!


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are connected ith other frescoes that *uffalmacco realized in the southern gallery #Last $ud%ment!'ell!and Thebais)! summarizing or anticipating their iconographies.

Present time echoes metaphysical timeD and the Triumph of Deathrepresents both! arranging the e"ternal orldin the loer level and the transcendent orld in the higher level. 7his is very clear from loo/ing at the historicalphotograph! because it is the only ay to get a general overvie! otherise impossible. In fact! the faithful! 6ust asthe modern visitor! could only get a vie of groups of characters or ;s0uares!< starting from the so3called ThreeDead and Three Livin%#fig. $$)! on the very left side of the Triumph. Jere is depicted thedurativenessof death, agroup of telve young noblemen! riding horses during a ha/ing e"pedition! meet three corpses in different stages

of decomposition.$47he corpses lie in superimposed coffins shoing the ravages of time, the first corpse! mostrecently dead! shos a fresh3s/in face and is smartly dressed ith an elegant hat and footearD the second ears acron! being probably a /ing! and its appearance loo/s very deterioratedD the third is already a s/eleton and lies veryclose to the beholder! turning the gaze toard him.

#:94*)Figure 11.

*uonamico *uffalmacco! The Three Dead and Three Livin%! detail from the Triumph of Death.

In the central scene a group of beggars #fig. $:) invo/es the personification of +eath! hanging in the air not sofar from them. 7hey turn their bac/ on the preceding scene #Three Dead and Three Livin%) and orient their gestures!gazes! and a long scroll to the right side!$Gith the folloing rhymes in early Italian, ;*ecause prosperity has leftus - +eath! cure for every pain! - Come and give us the last supperN


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1n the very right side of the fresco! seven young omen and three men #a strange similarity iththeDecameronbrigade) en6oy themselves in a delightful garden of orange treesD:$an elegant tapestry of floers isplaced at their feet. 7hey ear fashionable clothingD they tal/ to each other and play music! hile the horrible figureof +eath arrives on their left side ith an unmerciful scythe. 7his is a comple" figure! half human and half devil! nota s/eleton, she loo/s li/e an old oman ith long hite hair! bat ings on her bac/! and clas on both feet andhands.::We are not alloed to /no hom she is going to cut don among the group of young people. 7o cupidsfly over their heads carrying a torch of love upside don! and this is a certain presage of misfortune. 7he holebrigade is unaare and happyD none is suffering at all! because the scythe is still aving in the air, it is near but has

yet not arrived. Jere is represented not thepunctualityof the act of dying>as! for e"ample! in most Crucifi"ions>but the inchoatenessof the act of cutting don! hich the old oman is 6ust about to do.

7he horrible lady of +eath creates a sort of corridor beteen the loer and the higher level of the fresco! and sheacts as a bridge beteen them. In this space! delimited by the mountain cliff and the garden ith the young brigade!devils are hunting don souls! and some of them climb up again ith their prey, they bring them to the burningmountain on the left side. 7his is a visual synecdoche for Jell! painted in the folloing scene.:%In fact! on the upperlevel of the corridor angels and devils fight against each other! trying to ta/e possession of every single soulD andsinuous angels! above the orange trees! are protecting their saved souls moving toard the right margin of the fresco.7hin/ing that the folloing story is theLast $ud%ment! this dispute of souls is aprolepsis#flash forard) or anotheray to represent a similar theological concept #Le Eoff and *aschet $55$D Le Eoff :99%D chmitt:9$$). :(

Eetting bac/ to the other side of the fresco! e find a peculiar e"tension of the earthly orld, above the three

coffins! along the path that leads up! e find some anchorites in different daytime moments #praying! meditating!tending to animals). 7his is anotherprolepsisof the Thebais! the last story of this *uffalmacco cycle. 7he anchoritein the foreground>traditionally misunderstood as an 8acario:H>holds a long scroll ith the folloing rhymes!once again in the vernacular, ;If your mind is ide open - And you loo/ hard here - Oour vainglory ill be defeated -And youll see the pride dead - And you ill find the same endN - =o observe the la that is ritten here.< :&

#hat 0s #ritten ere

7he Triumph of Deathis a comple" combination of images and ords #in early Italian and in Latin). cholarsthin/ that this composite system as meant to build mental images able to influence and shape the faculties of thesoul! re3elaborating an Augustinian conceptual scheme #*olzoni $55&).:4For this reason! the theoretical plan of thefresco as attributed primarily to the +ominican theologian Cavalca #$:49'$%(:)! the author of important sermonsin the vernacular #*olzoni $5GG! $55&D Frugoni $5GG).:G*uffalmacco! together ith Cavalca and the other+ominicans ho planned the cycle! addressed a differentiated audience composed of three categories, illiterates!learned men ho could read early Italian! and those ho could also read Latin #*olzoni $55&).

7hat being said! it is interesting to e"amine the montage of ords and images from a semiotic point of vie. :5Itis ell /non that language has a different status compared to visual images! and in this respect these to semioticsystems interact in a very prolific ay. o e must investigate the relation beteen painting and riting! ithparticular attention to both levels of riting, its visual aspect or the form of the sign #signifier) and its content#signified).%9

Mnli/e the above3mentioned painted scrolls! held by characters in some episodes of the fresco #the anchorite andthe beggars)! a long inscription is shon by to angels! loo/ing li/e cupids floating in the air. 7hey are ;inside< thepainting! but they are not part of any episode of the fresco. Also! they are inserted in a very significant place! in the

corridor here +eath and her companions descend to the corpses and rise up ith the damned souls.If e loo/ at the anchorite! his long scroll has an important function inside the painting! not only for the

inscription that it bears, the diagonal scroll creates a /ind of e"tension of the footpath! but it also plays an active rolein the visual narration! connecting to different lociD and the direction of riting from left to right mar/s the sameaspect. It is a signal for the noblemen on their elegant horses! but at the same time it attracts the curiosity of thebeholder ho tries to read the versesD hoever can decipher the inscriptions and understand their content isencouraged to thin/ about the transience of earthly things.

imilarly! the scroll held by the beggars follos the direction of their gestures toard +eath! loo/ing li/e ane"tension of their bodies and hands. 8oreover! the scroll or/s as a sort of speech bubble or thought bubble! inhich they beg +eath to end their pain. 7he shape and the position of the scroll>and again the direction of riting!


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and hedonism.(57he ninth and last scroll>already not readable in *artolis time and dran from the fifteenth3century code">e"horts everybody to avoid carnal sin because +eath could arrive at any moment.H9We are tal/ingabout a literary treasure of at least fifty verses entrusted to the loer frame.

The 2ther 3arration of the 4Figures of Framing5

In the Basari description of the Triumph of Deaththe frame is called ornamento#decoration)! and this termindiscriminately appears in the (iteindicating architectural motifs or frames #mostly in ood or oils on canvas). 7hislinguistic use! idespread in enaissance times! combines in the same function elements that are apparently

different, the frame is meant to be not 6ust a material ob6ect but also a theoretical value.Within such a perspective! the frame involves aesthetic reception in different ays. 7he perceptive level comes

in, hen not being vieed! the frame allos the gaze to concentrate on the representation ithoutdissipating.H$Contemporary art theory hardly considers the aesthetic and epistemic role of the frame! a border thatdivides in a very comple" ay the space of representation from everything that does not concern it. H:7he frame is adense limen#threshold)! hose tas/ is to be gazed upon ithout being seenD it is a limit of aesthetic character!embodying the problematic distinction beteen the space of the or/ and the space e"ternal to the or/.

In hich terms is this distinction problematic? Folloing Louis 8arins theories! the frame connects todifferent spaces, the represented one #mimetic) and the one of the self3presentation of the image.H%In order tounderstand this concept! one of the first definitions of the verb ;to represent< is ;to substitute something present forsomething absent #hich is of course the most general structure of signs)< #8arin $55(Q :99$! %H:)DH(this

substitution is ruled by a mimetic ratio. 7he other side of this definition is ;tosho)! to exhibitsomething present

Transition Between Life and Afterlife

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