In the context of this artwork, explore the Seventeenth-century depictions of plague of the Interpretation.
Paintings depicting the plague are rare because, during the seventeenth century, a common belief was that viewing something such as a plague in art would have detrimental physical repercussions. It was believed that one would manifest what they were viewing and would literally come down with an epidemic such as the plague itself. So strong were these widely accepted beliefs, that this caused images of disease to be very unpopular. Poussin's depictions of the people gesturing to cover their noses show his belief at the time that the breath of plague victims could have been contagious, or possibly the fact that the stench coming from the dying and diseased people was so bad that others had to cover their noses in order to avoid the stench.
plague