Ancestors

Written by Femme Malheureuse on 2025-02-01 at 17:59

I've been studying the Middle Ages and Renaissance in relation to an art class I'm taking, one focused on Western civilization. I've been frustrated with reasons given for certain evolutions in art because they rarely take into account two major collapses of population due to the Justinian plague and the Black Death.

Imagine society when 25-60% die off inside a narrow window of time in societies with no comprehensive education, no infrastructure, no social safety nets.

Anarchy. Chaos.

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Toot

Written by Femme Malheureuse on 2025-02-01 at 18:04

"But the art! Look how great the art was!"

Uh-huh. Think of all the artisans and craftsmen who died without having their best work ever realized.

Think of the artists who couldn't produce better work not for the lack of talent but for the lack of resources due to collapsed supply chain, or because they had to scrabble to stay alive instead of concentrating on their art.

All this goes unmentioned in discussions about art history — what we see now may not be but the dregs that survived.

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Descendants