PALAZZO ABATELLIS AND REGIONAL GALLERY OF SICILY, Triumph Of Death

The large fresco depicts the grim subject of the Triumph of Death, a very common theme in the Middle Ages when there were no cures for the numerous outbreaks of plague.

The fresco was painted around 1450 in the courtyard of Palazzo Sclafani, which was being used as a hospital at the time. In 1944, after the building was bombed, it was removed from the wall it was painted on, and was clumsily cut into four parts, with the unfortunate results you can see today. The author was undoubtedly a painter of outstanding ability, but despite extensive research, his identity remains a mystery.

In the center of the fresco, Death is depicted as a skeleton on horseback, with strips of flesh falling away, galloping wildly over a heap of people he has already killed, belonging to the upper echelons of society at the time: if you look closely at the clothing of the dead, you’ll see they include bishops, a pope, an emperor, a sultan and a man of the law. This indicates the death spares no-one, however rich or powerful. The skeleton is holding a bow from which arrows are piercing men and women as they go about their favorite pastimes in a magnificent garden, amid song, hunting and carefree activities....