Bernard Tolomei and the Plague in Siena

What it is

This is a painting by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, dated circa 1735. It shows a robed cleric with a staff and a white-robed monk standing among dying and dead figures on a dark background. In the foreground a kneeling woman in orange, a small child, and a fallen man are shown. A red umbrella appears at the upper left, and an angel is above. The catalogue notes that the painting includes a naked infant and shows death and suffering from plague.

Why it matters

The painting is about Bernard Tolomei during the plague that struck Siena in 1348. Crespi painted it almost four centuries after that event, so it reflects how the Siena plague was remembered in the 18th century. It shows how painters used religious figures and scenes of suffering to present the plague as a moral and spiritual story.

Look closer

• Who in the painting is shown helping the dying, and who seems to be dead or suffering?
• What do the angel and the umbrella suggest about how the artist wanted viewers to understand the scene?
• What does a painted scene from the 1700s leave out about what the people of Siena actually experienced?