A lot of art from the Middle Ages is so bizarre, it seems… beyond explanation.
Which is why it’s no surprise that these seemingly nonsensical images have become popular
sources of memes in recent years.
It’s hard not to look at these images and ask yourself… wait, what is going on here?
So, for this entry into the archive, I try to track down the real meaning behind some
of these images that have circulated on the internet without context.
But keep in mind that what I’ve found in my research is that for many illustrations…
medieval art historians are just as clueless as the rest of us.
With that said, let’s begin.
To start, we have the curious trend of medieval babies who look… a little off.
The sheer amount of… unfortunate looking babies in medieval (and later Renaissance)
art suggests more is going on than just a few misplaced brush strokes.
Portraits of medieval infants seem like they were intentionally styled to look like tiny,
middle aged men.
And indeed, that is more or less what’s going on here…
These artists are following the trend of the ‘homunculus,’ which translates to “little
man” in Latin.
The idea behind the homunculus is related to the baby Jesus — who was the most popular
infant to paint at the time.
Due to a very literal interpretation of the church’s idea that Jesus was born ‘fully
formed and unchanged,’ a lot of classic religious art from the era has a very adult-faced
Jesus.
And paintings of other infants started to follow this trend as well: hence, babies being
painted with receding hairlines and layers of muscle.
Pretty interesting stuff.
By the time Renaissance styles developed over more of Europe, however, the somewhat unsettling
trend of adult-faced infants went out of practice — and frescos thankfully started featuring
much more normal looking babies.
Switching topics, another unusual theme in medieval art that the internet has picked
up on is that in scenes of people meeting their untimely demise — which should be
pretty grim, the sufferers seem strangely laid-back.
Seriously, almost all these people seem… pretty chill about their imminent death, all
things considered.
In fact, a lot of them appear somewhat bored, or at most subtly annoyed by the situation,
which is an unusual reaction to such a serious event.
So why are there entire battle scenes where everyone seems completely checked out?
Well, one explanation is that the neutral expressions come from the cultural value of
greeting death with calmness so you’ll be rewarded in what comes after.
While staying calm and grounded can be healthy, I will say, I think some of these people might
be taking their chillness a little too far.
And while we’re on the subject of strange portrayals of death — death itself, as personified
by skeletal figures coming to haunt the living — often looked… a little goofier than
one might expect, which has led to a variety of jokes online.
Most of these illustrations are actually related to the concept of the Danse Macabre, or Dance
of Death.
The Danse Macabre was a concept that death was an equalizer, coming for all classes of
feudal society; the images were designed to remind people to see this life’s fleeting
nature and to embrace death when the time came.
A related — and also strangely amusing — image that has become popular online is this portrait
of three individuals having a bizarre reaction to a group of skeletons.
The image is actually based on a legend called ‘The Three Living and the Three Dead,’
in which three nobles encounter three skeletons, who are actually undead reflections of the
nobles — sent to frighten them into changing their immoral ways.
It’s a pretty unique tale with a lot of variations, and one which shows up a fair
amount in medieval art.
One particularly strange trend in medieval art that has captured online attention is
how some artists depicted…… rabbits.
Various manuscripts portray rabbits not as we know them — as small, fuzzy animals that
aren’t much of a treat to a human — but as large, threatening creatures carrying off
helpless villagers.
It’s a concept that certainly stands out in the margins of illuminated texts.
So, what’s going on here?
Are these some kind of mythical beasts?
Did rabbits have some kind of attitude problem in the middle ages?
Well, the most accepted theory is that these strange, hilarious images are meant to be
just that — jokes.
Just like how we share funny images today, this sort of bizarre art was probably something
medieval monks had a laugh about with their friends.
Briefly leaving the medieval era for a series of portraits I had to include, we have the
highly unusual 18th century self-portraits of French painter Joseph Ducreux.
Although trained in the classical style, the successful Ducreux became unsatisfied with
the constraints of traditional portraiture, which at the time were almost entirely serious,
with somber body language and reserved compositions.
So, Ducreux started creating art with absurd, larger-than-life expressions that really go
against the standards of the time.
In breaking these constraints, his works resembled the earlier 16th and 17th century style of
portraiture called tronies: which were paintings like the one you see before you that frequently
featured exaggerated facial expressions.
Some of these expressions are so unusual that it might seem hard to believe they aren’t
modern parodies.
But despite what most classic portraits might lead you to believe, some people from the
past had a very modern sense of humor — and Ducreux was clearly one of those people.
Today, his most famous image is probably this one, where he painted himself pointing at
viewers and laughing at them.
It says something that this image is still funny to people on the internet hundreds of
years after it was painted.
Before we reach our final topic, there are a few other miscellaneous images I’d like
to try and address.
First, we have this amusing picture of what seems to be a mythical bird monster carrying
a smaller creature and a human away on its back — and the two passengers appear so
deep in argument they haven’t noticed they’re being hoisted away.
Despite appearances, this isn’t a medieval illustration, but a depiction of a costumed
individual at a 17th century fair — with the figures on their back likely some kind
of puppets.
Pretty unusual.
Next, we have this image of a man who seems like he’s being wrapped up in a sheet by
his friends.
Despite the goofy vibe, the image is actually likely Vitalis of Milan, a Saint, who, according
to legend, was sentenced to death.
So those two aren’t his friends, but his executioners, in all likelihood lowering him
into his grave.
And finally, on a lighter note, we’ve got this famously weird portrait of a baby.
And no, this isn’t one of the bizarre medieval era portraits, but a stylized portrait by
20th and 21st century figurative artist Fer-nan-do Botero — whose unique style sometimes causes
people to mistake his work from something from centuries prior.
And to close out this entry, we have a topic I’ve touched on in the past, but is always
worth revisiting.
That being the bizarre medieval trend of depicting knights fighting snails.
You can find these bizarre showdowns hidden within the margins of many manuscripts.
There’s a strangeness here that is pretty clear — I mean, snails don’t seem like
the most obvious creatures to depict as gargantuan, menacing juggernauts.
And maybe I’m overanalyzing, but to me there’s a sense in these images that the knights…
might not make it.
These snails seem like they mean business.
And this wasn’t a one-off concept — we have over sixty-five documented images of
snails doing battle with various warriors.
And what’s most intriguing is we’re not totally sure why — with theories ranging
from the snails representing class divisions, to being a joke about the concept of a knight’s
armor, to the slow and steady approach of death.
Or, maybe this is another example of medieval artists trying to create something to make
their friends laugh — just like what we do online today.
…And that’s all the medieval art we have time for in this entry.
I’ve made other videos covering weird medieval depictions of animals and mythical creatures
— that explain additional bizarre illustrations I didn’t get to here.
Thanks for watching.
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