from PART V - HIGH AND LATE MEDIEVAL CULTURE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
That art and architecture depend on and reflect the society in which they are produced is clearly evident in the Middle Ages. Prosperous times are favourable to activities such as building and adorning, while in periods of depression efforts in these fields decrease. A good example is the negative effect of the plague epidemics from the mid-fourteenth century, which affected all aspects of society and put an end to the grandiose high medieval era in art. Big projects, such as the building of the cathedral in Uppsala, could not be pursued at the same pace as before or came to a stand-still, sometimes permanently. This does not mean that nothing happened in art and architecture in the second half of the fourteenth century, but the projects were mostly on a smaller scale than previously, though there were exceptions such as Vadstena Abbey, founded in 1370. The convent buildings of Vadstena were consecrated in 1384 and the construction of the church took place in the last quarter of the fourteenth century and the first decades of the fifteenth.
The difficult times of the fourteenth century are also reflected in the visual arts. This is particularly evident in the representations of Christ. Even if the suffering of Christ was expressed in different ways earlier, there had been no predilection for depicting extreme suffering of the type that was preferred in the fourteenth and most of the fifteenth century.
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