Francesco Traini/ Buonamico Buffalmacco
Triumph of Death
1330. Camposanto, Pisa
Fresco

This painting is a direct confrontation between the viewer and their own death. This enormous size was designed to overwhelm the viewer about the finality and inevitability of death. The entire piece portrays stories and allegories about death. In addition, there is a subtle allegorical reflection of a contemporary eschatological debate between the Greek Orthodox Church and the Western church. The imagery reflected in the frescoes represent Pope Benedict XII’s opinion, in that the righteous would see God after their death and that the bliss of the souls would be intensified after the reunion with their physical bodies.¹ Conversely the damned would suffer even greater pain and torment when they were united with their bodies.