One of the most irritating misconceptions about the Middle Ages is that people back then bathed once a year or so – it is a myth I keep fighting. I am very happy to say that recently my article on this subject has been published by JSTOR Daily (available HERE)….
Lascivious “Lascivie”
[This post is unsuitable for Readers under 18 years old.] Some time ago I have written about the 16th-century erotic prints (post available HERE) depicting various sexual positions. In that text I referred to the cycle by Agostino Carracci, which survived only in later copies. Today I would like…
Men that could not be seduced
There are certain subjects that repeatedly appeared in European art throughout the centuries: the most popular were mythological or biblical ones. Among the latter, especially in the Old Testament, we have quite lot referring to the stormy relations between men and women. Those topics were very popular among artists of…
La Grande Bouffe of the Last Supper
Sometimes a curiosity in art is not about artists depicting something weird; sometimes it is something normal, but depicted in a weird way. Today I would like to show you some examples of the Last Supper which were simply not very well painted. There are such cases in medieval art;…
Wise Men who followed a star
Adoration of the Magi, also called “the Three Kings”, is one of the most popular subjects in the Christian art, but it is actually not very well documented in the Bible. It is based only on one fragment of the Gospel of Matthew (2:1-12): In the time of King Herod, after…