Stretching the body and breaking the bones: a glimpse of the dark and cruel "history of human torture" from famous paintings
Art
15 May 2021 Selected Book Excerpts
The witch-hunting instruction book teaches not to worry about torture, but to work slowly and carefully. In the beginning, he would use less bleeding methods to make the prisoner miserable, and then show the horrible instrument of torture, and ask the prisoner, "This is the turn of the prisoner. Do you want to admit it?"
Text: Hidehiro Ikegami｜Translation: Ke Yiyun
A dazzling array of torture tricks
Interrogation has existed since ancient times, as a means of private revenge, or as a punishment by the public sector. However, when used in witch hunts or heretical trials, it should not be misunderstood that torture is only a means of eliciting confession, not for punishment-it is not after knowing the identity of the witch that she used torture to torture her. Because once you admit that you are a witch, existence itself is a kind of sin, and only fire torture awaits her.
In other words, the real horror is that the stage of torture is that the suspect will be subjected to cruel torture again and again "in the state of not knowing whether it is an ordinary person or a witch."
One of the frequently used methods of torture is to "lengthen the body." They would tie the victim's hands and feet with a rope and slowly pull it out, or use a hanging method to tie the hands back to the rope and pull it up slowly.
As soon as the feet leave the ground, the weight of the whole body will fall on the back shoulders. They dragged the person to a high place with pulleys. As soon as the torturer let go, of course, the victim would fall. Then, when they were close to the ground, they suddenly tightened, and the joints of the victim's shoulders and elbows would immediately dislocate, making it more painful.
One of the trilogy depicting tragedies caused by war. In the damp and strong prison, all kinds of torture in the name of investigation are conducted. The 18th-century Italian painter Magnasco painted the dark side of this society.
There are also many tortures of "clamping". For example, sandwich your fingers between two pieces of iron. The iron piece called "finger clamp" is like a jack. Every time the screw is turned, the iron piece on it will gradually drop. There are 20 fingers on both hands and feet, one or two at a time. When the screw reaches its limit, it will eventually crush the bone. Even if they can survive and be released, they can no longer use their fingers to work. Some people desperately commit suicide because they are unable to reinstate their jobs after being released from prison.
It is not limited to fingers, any part can be used as long as it is a protrusion that can hold the squeeze. Teeth or genitals are the best targets due to pain sensitivity. Hands and feet are also commonly used parts. The manual also recommends using acupuncture between the nails and finger flesh, which is a very good method.
In addition, the calf is often attacked, and the sharp angle of the chair alone is painful enough. The wood that clamps the calf is also not a flat plank. Instead, it uses angular wood or metal utensils with sharp corners. This kind of clamp, commonly known as "Spanish boots", is particularly effective.
Saint Agatha is a saint symbolized by a cut-off breast. This work depicts her nipple being clamped. Such a detailed description should not rely on the spread of the story but refer to the actual torture scene at that time.
The three elements of torture
There are too many types of torture to list them all here. Others include whipping, cuffing the neck with iron rings, sitting on nail chairs, and burning with red iron rods. Or use fire to approach, forcibly pour a lot of water, etc., the tricks of torture are dazzling and innumerable. On the dark and distorted side of humanity, the imagination
sometimes exerted is jaw-dropping.
When torturing, there are three important basic concepts. First of all, to induce a confession, the technique must look terrifying. Secondly, to achieve results, of course, it has to be extremely painful. Finally, there is a method that will not die immediately, such as heavy bleeding. Because the ultimate goal is to obtain a confession, if the suspect is killed, nothing will be gained. Therefore, torture often takes time to proceed slowly. During this period, the suspect was not allowed to sleep.
Mary Madeleine Marguerite De Aubé, married to the Marquis of Branvilliers, conspired with her lover to murder her father and brothers to fight for her inheritance. After the incident in Dongchuang, he was arrested while on the run and was beheaded in July 1676. It became synonymous with waterboarding torture and appeared in the illustrations in many books.
The witch-hunting instruction book also teaches not to worry, but to work slowly and carefully. In the beginning, he would use less bleeding methods to make the prisoner miserable, and then show the horrible torture device, and then ask the prisoner, this is the turn of the prisoner. Do you want to admit it?
This kind of torture is too painful. I take it for granted. Many people want to commit suicide to solve the problem. However, the cruel thing is that it was very popular at the time to put iron tools called "bitter pears" into the criminal population. Of course, this was to prevent the suspect from biting his tongue and killing himself.
During the torture, the judge only instructed the torture method and watched the torture officer execute it. Just like when Jesus was sentenced, Governor Pilate stated that he had nothing to do with him, and the powerful would never act in person.
St. Barbara is also a saint who is often created. Like St. Lucia and St. Carin of Alexandria, she is loved and is now excluded from the Catholic saint calendar. She was a figure in the third century AD. She was imprisoned on a tower by her father. She was angered by her father because of her conversion to Christianity. She was tortured by criminal law such as burning her skin. However, she was cured by miracles and was finally beheaded. The anecdote about the tower is reminiscent of fairy tales circulating in various places.
Extra Screening
To preserve the blue blood of the nobility, she died with the baby in the puerperium-the dark history in the famous paintings of the Louvre
The story behind the scar on the face of the Dark Knight Joker is similar to the similar execution in the real world
In the movie "Original Criminals", four octopuses sacrificed for art
This article is excerpted from "Cruel Art History: Interpretation of the Blood and Violence in Famous Western Paintings", published by The Times
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Carefully turn over a little-known page of the Bible that is scarlet.
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Are there other themes in the history of cruel art that you can't imagine?
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