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Stories

  • Article

The tradesman who confronted the pestilence

The City of London, 1665. As the Great Plague hits the capital, John New faces a deadly dilemma.

  • Article

Illness and the influence of the stars

Could alien germs from space have caused major pandemics across the world? Taras Young investigates the ideas of a few unconventional scientists who believe this to be the case.

  • Article

Why the 1918 Spanish flu defied both memory and imagination

The Black Death, AIDS and Ebola outbreaks are part of our collective cultural memory, but the Spanish flu outbreak has not been.

  • Interview

Inside the mind of Ayurvedic Man’s curator, Bárbara Rodriguez Muñoz

The choices a curator makes – what goes in? what stays out? why? – are often as fascinating as the exhibition itself.

All stories (6)

Images

  • Zachariah's cross. A double cross, on one side side Zacharias and his blessing, on the other St. Benedict and the lettering of the cross of St. Benedict. Protection against the plague.
  • A cross with the Trinity, the Virgin, and saints, used to protect against witchcraft, plague, fire, and storms. Etching.
  • Saint Carlo Borromeo carrying the Holy Cross in the plague of Milan. Etching, 1781, after Carlo Cesi or Pietro Berrettini, il Cortona.
  • Four men sitting cross-legged outside a building with bells hanging from the roof: Bombay at the time of the plague. Photograph, 1896/1897.
  • A cross with the Virgin of the Ursulines at Landshut, the wounds of Christ, and saints used against witchcraft, fire, plague, and storms. Etching.
  • A cross with the image of the Virgin of the Ursulines at Landshut, surrounded by saints, used to protect against witchcraft, fire, plague and storms. Etching.
  • The Holy Cross with the image of the Virgin of the Ursulines at Landshut, surrounded by saints, used for protection against witchcraft, fire, plague and storms. Etching.
  • Saint Carlo Borromeo, with a rope around his neck, carrying a cross through the plague-ridden streets of Milan in 1576. Engraving by J. Frey, 1749, after Pietro da Cortona.
  • Saint Carlo Borromeo: with a rope around his neck, he kneels before the Cross in the plague-ridden streets of Milan in 1576. Coloured aquatint by L.A. Garneray, 1820, after Martinet.
  • Two men and a boy sitting cross-legged on the ground surrounded by leaves; their faces are painted white and one of them appears to be smoking a pipe: Bombay at the time of the plague. Photograph, 1896/1897.
All images (139)

Catalogue

All works (90)