Since prehistoric times, mankind has always treated the deceased with their relatives and all that with respect. People sought to perpetuate the memory of the dead in various structures - from stone boulders, mounds, ancient Egyptian pyramids to exquisite sculptural compositions, ancestral crypts, tombs and mausoleums. However, there was a period in the history of tombstones when these sculptural structures had a truly terrifying appearance.
The story of one tombstone
Rene de Chalon - Prince of Orange, ruler of Holland and Zealand, bequeathed that after his death a tombstone should be installed on his grave, depicting him as he will become three years after burial. And he died at the age of 25 during the 9th Italian War in 1544 on the battlefield.
Tombstone of Rene de Chalon - Prince of Orange.
Before the body of the murdered prince was transported to his homeland, all organs were first removed from it and buried in the town of Bar-le-Duc, in the Church of Saint-Maxe. And according to the will of his wife, exactly three years later, she erected a monument over the remains of her husband.
This tombstone was skillfully carved from marble by the sculptor Ligier Ricier. He portrayed the deceased holding his heart in his hand, which originally lay in a small red chest. This was until 1790, when the heart was not stolen. Then this detail of the sculptural composition was replaced with an hourglass, and later with a plaster heart.
Tombstone of Rene de Chalon - Prince of Orange. Fragment.
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The meaning of the gesture: the right hand on the chest and the raised left hand with the heart is not known. Apparently the author wanted to show the desire of the deceased to pass him on either to God or to his wife. The meaning of this allegory has not yet been fully understood. And if we judge about the ideal sculpture of a disfigured body, then we can say with confidence that Ligier Richier had considerable knowledge of anatomy.
“ Сadaver tomb ” - the tomb of the deceased in the form of a corpse. Middle Ages.
The fashion for such terrible monuments, called "transi de vie" (transition from life), was due to the historical events of the 14th century, when massive wars, epidemics and famine killed about half of the population of Europe. Death at that time massively "mowed down" the population, so the appearance of the decaying corpses did not particularly bother anyone. Before her, everyone was equal - rulers and archbishops, generals and knights, aristocrats and ordinary farmers.
The tomb of the deceased in the form of a decayed corpse.
In those terrible times, the tombstones of the Transi (Le Transi) appeared, which means "the deceased". They became widespread in the Middle Ages in France and Germany, and then spread to almost all European countries.
In essence, it is a tombstone sculpture depicting with maximum realism the human body in the process of decomposition.
Two-tiered tomb of the archbishop.
As a rule, the tombs of noble persons - kings and queens, knights, archbishops, wealthy nobles - were decorated with two-tiered sculptures. They were a vivid allegory of the transition of earthly glory into the frailty of the body.
Transzy of a married couple.
In the 16th century, another type of transit appeared in France, depicting naked corpses only a few hours after death.
Tombstone sculpture of transi.
The meaning of the transit is still not clear. Some believe that this is a clear example of what happens to the body of the deceased after death, others - that these terrible figures were supposed to perform the function of "memento mori", that is, remind the living of the inevitability of death. And the fact that everyone should die and decay in the earth was emphasized by all sorts of terrible details - from worms to toads and snakes.
The Renaissance era gave the world the genius Florentine sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti, who carved many sculptural tombstones from marble.
