In the smaller towns, where the scenic display was less, the effect of these spiritual plays on the character of the spectators may have been greater.We read that one of the great preachers of repentance of whom more will be said later on, Roberto da Lecce, closed his Lenten sermons during the plague of 1448, at Perugia, with a representation of the Passion.The piece followed the New Testament closely.The actors were few, but the whole people wept aloud.It is true that on such occasions emotional stimulants were resorted to which were borrowed from the crudest realism.We are reminded of the pictures of Matteo da Siena, or of the groups of clay-figures by Guido Mazzoni, when we read that the actor who took the part of Christ appeared covered with welts and apparently sweating blood, and even bleeding from a wound in the side.
第122章 SOCIETY AND FESTIVALS(15)（2 / 3）