Being that today is Mother’s Day and I just finished weaning my breastfed 2-year-old off the boob juice, so I thought I’d have a little bit of fun with the Art Round-Up post this week. This is really not for your homeschool. It’s just for the moms out there, so I’m going to leave out the usual discussion questions and stuff.
Just enjoy.
They really do speak for themselves.
You’re welcome.
1. Unknown artist, Gabrielle d’Estrées and One of Her Sisters, ca. 1594
This is one of the best artworks ever made. It’s magnificent. Here, the sister announces the pregnancy of Gabrielle d’Estrées, the favorite mistress of King Henry IV, with what the Louvre website calls it “an oddly affectionate gesture”(source). Hilarious.
2. Meneghello di Giovanni de’ Canali, Madonna and Child
Boobs don’t work that way, kid.
**I’m trusting the internet here. I couldn’t find this mentioned in any sort of official site or book, but Pinterest, a painting reproduction site, and Ugly Renaissance Babies Tumblr say it’s legit.
3. Jusepe de Ribera, The Bearded Woman, 1631
This is one of the strangest paintings I have ever seen. I thought it was a joke and that the internet was tricking me. From what I can tell, this is real and in a museum in Toledo, Spain.
I don’t understand.
Click here for more info about this one.
4. Alonso Cano, The Miraculous Lactation of Saint Bernard, c. 1650
That sculpture of Mary has incredible aim. This post on the WTF Art History Tumblr explains the story, but it seems like there are multiple versions of it across the internet.
5. Cimabue, Madonna with Child, 1283-84
When I was in college, I did a summer abroad in Italy. One of my favorite memories was spending all day in the Uffizi Gallery with my friend Ginny looking at all of the crazy crazy medieval and Renaissance babies. They are so wonderfully deformed. They just couldn’t figure out the proportion in art, and it is so delightful. I love this creepy, shrunken-headed man-baby.
If you need more crazy babies and lactating moms, check out these sites.
- Mashable: 25 Creepy Paintings of Renaissance Babies
- Ugly Renaissance Babies Tumblr. “These kids aren’t right.”
- 19 Works Of Art That Show Breastfeeding Has Always Been Beautiful
What do you think? Are you sufficiently disturbed?
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