Metamorphosis of a Death Symbol

Download or read book Metamorphosis of a Death Symbol written by Kathleen Cohen and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1973-01-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses upon the tomb with a transi image, which the author defines as 'a tomb with a representation of the deceased as a corpse, shown either nude or wrapped in a shroud', tombs that were peculiar to Northern Europe from the late fourteenth through the seventeenth centuries. Cohen challenges the modern view that the transi image was a mere memento mori for the living. Drawing upon 200 examples of tombs with, as well as without transi images, and upon poetry, church hymns, prayers, sermons, ceremonial texts, and wills, she demonstrates that in the course of the 15th & 16th centuries the meaning of the transi evolved, reflecting changes in religious, social and intellectual life during this period.