Monday 23 February 2009

Premature Burial in Brussels

I was in Brussels last year, but could not at the time think of any connection with my interest in magia posthuma. Later on I have realized that a couple of paintings that are reproduced in books on vampires are part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in that very city. I am referring to a couple of paintings by Antoine Wiertz (1806-65):

L'inhumation précipitée, the premature burial, depicting a victim of cholera prematurely put away in a coffin. Premature burial being a favourite rationalist explanation of the belief in revenants, the subject matter is obviously relevant to books on vampires, and the.

La belle Rosine, a variation on the popular Death and the Maiden theme, is e.g. used on the cover of Ornella Volta's 1962 Le Vampire as shown below.

Finally, in books on the subject of witches you might find La jeune sorcière.

So, if you visit Brussels, you may want to go to The Wiertz Museum.

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