Macabre

For other uses, see Macabre (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Marcabru.
Upper section of the Transi of René de Chalon. Sculpture by Ligier Richier, c. 1545–1547.
A death head wearing the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, on the sarcophagus of Habsburg emperor Charles VI in the crypt of the Capuchin church in Vienna, Austria.
Trionfo della Morte ("Triumph of Death"), fresco painted by Buonamico Buffalmacco[1] (c. 1330s–1350, disputed),[2] Pisa, Italy
Chandelier of human bones and skulls, Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic
Totentanz ("Dance of the Dead"), illustration from the Nuremberg Chronicle, by Hartmann Schedel (1440–1514)

In works of art, the adjective macabre (US: /məˈkɑːb/ or UK: /məˈkɑːbrə/; French: [makabʁ]) means "having the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere". The macabre works to emphasize the details and symbols of death. The term also refers to works particularly gruesome in nature.

  1. ^ Bellosi, Luciano (2000). Come un prato fiorito. Studi sull'arte tardogotica. Di fronte e attraverso. Storia dell'arte (in Italian). Milan: Jaca Book. p. 9. ISBN 9788816404335.
  2. ^ Aavitsland, Kristin B. (2012). "Mortis Memoria: To Remember One's Death". Imagining the Human Condition in Medieval Rome: The Cistercian fresco cycle at Abbazia delle Tre Fontane. Routledge (1st ed.). London and New York: Routledge. pp. 131–132. ISBN 9781138273078. LCCN 2011050166.