Book XXIII.15. City of Nuceria sacked and burned {Tertiae Decadis Liber Tertius p. CXV} 1493

Curator: This woodcut, titled "Book XXIII.15. City of Nuceria sacked and burned," captures a vivid, chaotic scene. It is currently held in the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It looks like a medieval video game! All stark lines and dramatic action, even with the flames kind of stiffly rendered. Curator: The starkness, I think, underscores the brutality of the depicted sacking. The anonymous artist utilizes linear precision to highlight the collapse of civic order and the vulnerability of its inhabitants. Editor: There's something perversely mesmerizing about watching order crumble. The horse looks so bored! Curator: Indeed, it mirrors the indifference often present within systems of power during times of collapse. We can read the artist's perspective as a commentary on the cyclical nature of violence and societal decay. Editor: I think it's a pretty powerful, though tiny, statement about the madness of war. Makes you wonder about all the Nucerias we've burned since.