Welcome to No Fear Friday, where I good-natured-ly make fun of bad
artwork from the Middle Ages, to hopefully inspire those interested in
the scribal arts to give it a try. This week:
Breastfeeding
Ya'll brought this on yourselves. My last No Fear Friday post on
Lactation at the Prado had the most clicks of any of the articles I've written so far. If I'm lucky, a no-fear article will top just over 100 clicks, and that one clocked in at 176! So, either the topic was enticing enough to attract about 50 more readers, or about half of you thought it was fascinating enough to deserve a second read.
Clearly, I am forced to assume that there is something about the sublime allegory of Mother Mary breastfeeding the baby Jesus that you find interesting. That's totally it... it has absolutely nothing to do with the trifecta of badly drawn female anatomy, ugly Renaissance babies, and of course...BOOBS.
Nope, nothing to do with that at all.
Also, if you are not already familiar with pinterest's algorithms, you should know that if you pin something the program starts showing you more of that type of thing. I pinned all of those lactation pictures from the Prado...and suddenly my pinterest feed is full of medieval art of breastfeeding. And boy has it shown me some awesome examples that I will now bring to you.
As before....this post is full of BOOBS. If BOOBS offend you, stop reading. Also, this is mostly religious art that I am good-naturedly making fun of, so be warned.
The Return of the Detachable Boob!
Because why should it be attached to mom's body when we can just paint it like a bottle?
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| 'The Luttrell Psalter' 1325-1340 Add MS 42130 Folio 13r |
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| Paolo di Giovanni Fei (1345-1411) - Madonna del latte |
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| La Madonna del Latte by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, c 1330 |
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| The Virgin Suckling her Child, Sanctuary of the Madonna di Bonora, about 1400 |
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Maria Santissima Incaldana - XIV century - Sanctuary of Mondragone (Caserta, Italy)
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| Paolo di Giovanni Fei, Date: 1370s, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
Weirdly Placed Boobs
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| The Madonna del Latte, Sanctuary of Madonna di Campagna, 14th century |
Shoulder boob.
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| Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, Madonna con Bambino, first half 1500's |
One GIGANTIC boob in the center of the chest.
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| Donato de' Bardi, "Madonna del Latte," 1435-40 |
Neck boob.
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| Madonna and Child, 15th Century Flemish oil on wood. |
More neck boob, or I guess collarbone boob?
Conclusion?
I have just shared 10 images, and this is not even half of what i have found over the last couple of weeks. So... there will be another post on this subject! Next one will focus more on the ugly Renaissance babies and bad female anatomy that is NOT boobs. I know that disappoints everyone terribly. =)
Next post in the series: Breastfeeding, Part Duex
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