Anybody worried about their mortality?

Above is Hans Baldung Grien's version of Death and Beauty, and it really isn't that pretty. Like I wrote previously, religion played a large role during the Renaissance, so on the few occasions that secular imagery was painted, it generaly had to do with daily fears and frustrations of the public. Grien has painted four stages of life on the panel, with the last stage of Death holding an hour glass above all the other's heads. Clock is ticking!

So why has there been such a long fear of death and decay?  Did the fear exist before the time of Christianity?  

Getting Started: Creepy Art

The Northern Renaissance is famous for its luscious and sensual use of oil paint, idealized fair skinned Virgin Mary's, and profusely ornamented and detailed paintings.  Beauty is undeniable with these elegant paintings. Yet, you can't know good until you know evil.   Likewise, you can't know beauty until you know ugly, which is why the depictions of what is 'not beautiful' was so common during the 15th and 16th centuries.

 

Perhaps it is the irony that appeals to me most: the most talented artists painting the grotesque, the odd, the other, with the most valuable materials that were known to exist.   Considering the role Christianity played in daily life--- it seems most likely that painting what was 'not beautiful' was more of a way to cope with a fear of going to hell......