Distorting Madonna in Medieval art - James Earle
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0:15 - 0:17Ever see a medieval painting of baby Jesus
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0:17 - 0:18sitting or standing on his mother's lap
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0:18 - 0:21and wonder why she's so large?
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0:21 - 0:23Paintings like Cimabue's enthroned Madonna with angels
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0:23 - 0:24or Duccio's Maesta
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0:24 - 0:26also appear out of proportion.
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0:26 - 0:28If Mary were to stand up, it seems,
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0:28 - 0:31the angels in the picture would be as tall as her shin bone,
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0:31 - 0:33and her torso would be disproportionately small
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0:33 - 0:34when compared to her legs.
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0:34 - 0:36Maybe you thought the artist simply wasn't skilled enough
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0:36 - 0:37to paint realistically
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0:37 - 0:39or lacked the mathematical skill of perspective.
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0:39 - 0:41But that's not the full story.
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0:41 - 0:43To understand why, we need to go back
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0:43 - 0:44to the late fifth century
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0:44 - 0:47when the city of Rome was attacked by the Goths.
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0:47 - 0:49Rome was built in marble and meant to last forever.
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0:49 - 0:50It represented, for many years,
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0:50 - 0:52the pinnacle of human civilization,
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0:52 - 0:55so its destruction left a huge void.
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0:56 - 0:59Theologians, who preached about a world beyond the physical,
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0:59 - 1:01began attracting an audience as Rome crumbled,
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1:01 - 1:05and Christianity started to fill the void left by the Empire.
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1:05 - 1:07As a replacement for the physical beauty of Rome,
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1:07 - 1:10Christianity offered a metaphysical beauty of virtue
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1:10 - 1:11and an eternal heaven
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1:11 - 1:13that could not be destroyed as Rome had.
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1:13 - 1:15After the fall of Rome,
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1:15 - 1:18early medieval theologians turned away from physical beauty,
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1:18 - 1:20rejecting it in favor of inner-beauty.
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1:20 - 1:23They maintained that while the physical world was temporary,
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1:23 - 1:25virtue and religion were permanent.
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1:25 - 1:28Beautiful objects could lead to a misguided worship of the object
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1:28 - 1:30rather than the worship of goodness.
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1:30 - 1:32It is said that the early sixth century preacher, St. Benedict,
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1:32 - 1:34upon thinking of a beautiful woman,
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1:34 - 1:36threw himself into a thorn patch,
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1:36 - 1:37and through his suffering,
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1:37 - 1:39regained his focus on spiritual beauty.
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1:39 - 1:41He feared his desire for the beautiful woman
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1:41 - 1:44would distract him from his desire to love God.
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1:44 - 1:47As European civilization transitioned away from empires
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1:47 - 1:48and towards religion,
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1:48 - 1:51monasteries became the gatekeepers of knowledge,
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1:51 - 1:52which meant that classical books
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1:52 - 1:54that praised physical pleasures
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1:54 - 1:56were not copied or protected.
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1:56 - 1:59Without protection, they became the victims of natural decay,
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1:59 - 2:00fire,
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2:00 - 2:01flooding,
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2:01 - 2:02or pests.
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2:02 - 2:04And without the help of monks transcribing new copies,
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2:04 - 2:07these texts and the philosophies they carried
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2:07 - 2:08disappeared in Western Europe
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2:08 - 2:11and were replaced by the works of people like St. Benedict,
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2:11 - 2:14which brings us back to these depictions of Jesus and Mary.
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2:14 - 2:18Because Christianity had so fervently rejected physical beauty,
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2:18 - 2:20these medieval artists purposefully avoided
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2:20 - 2:22aesthetically pleasing forms.
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2:22 - 2:24At first, decorations for churches or palaces
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2:24 - 2:27were limited to interesting geometric patterns,
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2:27 - 2:28which could be pleasing
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2:28 - 2:31without inspiring sinful thoughts of physical pleasure.
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2:31 - 2:33As the medieval period progressed,
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2:33 - 2:34depictions of Jesus and Mary were tolerated,
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2:34 - 2:37but the artist clearly made an effort to veil Mary
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2:37 - 2:39and give her disproportionately large legs,
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2:39 - 2:42with those enormous shin bones.
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2:42 - 2:44The fear remained that a beautiful illustration of Mary
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2:44 - 2:46might inspire the viewer to love the painting
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2:46 - 2:48or the physical form of Mary,
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2:48 - 2:50rather than the virtue she's meant to represent.
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2:50 - 2:52So even though it may be fun to think we can paint
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2:52 - 2:55more realistically than Cimabuey or Duccio,
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2:55 - 2:56we need to remember that they had different goals
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2:56 - 2:58when picking up a paintbrush.
- Title:
- Distorting Madonna in Medieval art - James Earle
- Description:
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View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/distorting-madonna-in-medieval-art-james-earle
After Rome was destroyed, people were wary of attachment to physical beauty. As Christianity gained traction, Romans instead began to focus on the metaphysical beauty of virtue, and art began to follow suit. James Earle discusses how Medieval paintings of Madonna were affected by this shift.
Lesson by James Earle (https://www.youtube.com/user/AmorSciendi), animation by Hero 4 Hire Creative.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 03:11
Els De Keyser edited English subtitles for Distorting Madonna in Medieval art - James Earle | ||
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Bedirhan Cinar accepted English subtitles for Distorting Madonna in Medieval art - James Earle | ||
Bedirhan Cinar edited English subtitles for Distorting Madonna in Medieval art - James Earle | ||
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Andrea McDonough edited English subtitles for Distorting Madonna in Medieval art - James Earle | ||
Andrea McDonough added a translation |