Felix Jenewein, The Plague (Pestis) VI



Date: 1901
Technique: Lithograph, printed in colours, 35.2 x 47.8 cm

One of six plates in a portfolio with title pages and introduction by Karel B. Mádl.

Subject described by Karel B. Mádl as follows: "Heaven is reconciled. The terrible phantom of Plague vanished. The storm is over; under the ground sleep the dead and above it there remained part of miserable humanity. Tapers burn on numberless graves and on the brightening sky appears a rainbow of peace. An awful remembrance of experienced wretchedness and misery lingers and covers the smiling landscape with ashes and darkness. It is useless to point out the chalk-drawing, covered with a light and expressive colour, for it speaks eloquently for itself, showing a great intensity and depth of feeling of Jenewein. I tried to point out here the connection between the Plague and that which preceded it, as well as the soil, from which the cycle Plague has sprung up, the ethical basis and the artistic expression, and in all this Felix Jenewein succeeded."

Source 1

Source 2