# Quote — William H. McNeill, Plagues and Peoples

> Painting responded to the plague-darkened vision of the human condition provoked by repeated exposure to sudden, inexplicable death. Tuscan painters reacted against Giotto's serenity, preferring sterner, hieratic portrayals of religious scenes and figures. The "Dance of Death" became a common theme for art; and several other macabre motifs entered the European repertory.

- Author: [William H. McNeill](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-h-mcneill.md)
- Book: [Plagues and Peoples](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-h-mcneill/plagues-and-peoples.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_H._McNeill#Plagues_and_Peoples_(1976)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-h-mcneill/plagues-and-peoples/painting-responded-to-the

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> When variations could be so extravagantly successful, displacement of one humanoid population by another even more effective group of hunters must have occurred frequently. Survival was more likely for the more formidable in battle as well as for the more efficient in the hunt.

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