1 00:00:14,863 --> 00:00:16,925 Ever see a medieval painting of baby Jesus 2 00:00:16,925 --> 00:00:18,469 sitting or standing on his mother's lap 3 00:00:18,469 --> 00:00:20,595 and wonder why she's so large? 4 00:00:20,595 --> 00:00:22,990 Paintings like Cimabue's enthroned Madonna with angels 5 00:00:22,990 --> 00:00:24,321 or Duccio's Maesta 6 00:00:24,321 --> 00:00:26,184 also appear out of proportion. 7 00:00:26,184 --> 00:00:27,987 If Mary were to stand up, it seems, 8 00:00:27,987 --> 00:00:30,577 the angels in the picture would be as tall as her shin bone, 9 00:00:30,577 --> 00:00:32,521 and her torso would be disproportionately small 10 00:00:32,521 --> 00:00:34,237 when compared to her legs. 11 00:00:34,237 --> 00:00:36,119 Maybe you thought the artist simply wasn't skilled enough 12 00:00:36,119 --> 00:00:37,363 to paint realistically 13 00:00:37,363 --> 00:00:39,338 or lacked the mathematical skill of perspective. 14 00:00:39,338 --> 00:00:40,824 But that's not the full story. 15 00:00:40,824 --> 00:00:42,695 To understand why, we need to go back 16 00:00:42,695 --> 00:00:44,174 to the late fifth century 17 00:00:44,174 --> 00:00:46,543 when the city of Rome was attacked by the Goths. 18 00:00:46,543 --> 00:00:48,936 Rome was built in marble and meant to last forever. 19 00:00:48,936 --> 00:00:50,417 It represented, for many years, 20 00:00:50,417 --> 00:00:52,168 the pinnacle of human civilization, 21 00:00:52,168 --> 00:00:54,919 so its destruction left a huge void. 22 00:00:55,933 --> 00:00:58,820 Theologians, who preached about a world beyond the physical, 23 00:00:58,820 --> 00:01:01,019 began attracting an audience as Rome crumbled, 24 00:01:01,019 --> 00:01:04,660 and Christianity started to fill the void left by the Empire. 25 00:01:04,660 --> 00:01:07,108 As a replacement for the physical beauty of Rome, 26 00:01:07,108 --> 00:01:09,852 Christianity offered a metaphysical beauty of virtue 27 00:01:09,852 --> 00:01:11,156 and an eternal heaven 28 00:01:11,156 --> 00:01:13,483 that could not be destroyed as Rome had. 29 00:01:13,483 --> 00:01:14,857 After the fall of Rome, 30 00:01:14,857 --> 00:01:17,867 early medieval theologians turned away from physical beauty, 31 00:01:17,867 --> 00:01:20,113 rejecting it in favor of inner-beauty. 32 00:01:20,113 --> 00:01:22,738 They maintained that while the physical world was temporary, 33 00:01:22,738 --> 00:01:25,086 virtue and religion were permanent. 34 00:01:25,086 --> 00:01:27,829 Beautiful objects could lead to a misguided worship of the object 35 00:01:27,829 --> 00:01:30,104 rather than the worship of goodness. 36 00:01:30,104 --> 00:01:32,371 It is said that the early sixth century preacher, St. Benedict, 37 00:01:32,371 --> 00:01:33,991 upon thinking of a beautiful woman, 38 00:01:33,991 --> 00:01:35,927 threw himself into a thorn patch, 39 00:01:35,927 --> 00:01:37,074 and through his suffering, 40 00:01:37,074 --> 00:01:39,477 regained his focus on spiritual beauty. 41 00:01:39,477 --> 00:01:40,953 He feared his desire for the beautiful woman 42 00:01:40,953 --> 00:01:43,898 would distract him from his desire to love God. 43 00:01:43,898 --> 00:01:47,064 As European civilization transitioned away from empires 44 00:01:47,064 --> 00:01:48,337 and towards religion, 45 00:01:48,337 --> 00:01:50,997 monasteries became the gatekeepers of knowledge, 46 00:01:50,997 --> 00:01:52,384 which meant that classical books 47 00:01:52,384 --> 00:01:53,676 that praised physical pleasures 48 00:01:53,676 --> 00:01:55,760 were not copied or protected. 49 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:58,691 Without protection, they became the victims of natural decay, 50 00:01:58,691 --> 00:01:59,872 fire, 51 00:01:59,872 --> 00:02:00,653 flooding, 52 00:02:00,653 --> 00:02:01,739 or pests. 53 00:02:01,739 --> 00:02:04,034 And without the help of monks transcribing new copies, 54 00:02:04,034 --> 00:02:06,514 these texts and the philosophies they carried 55 00:02:06,514 --> 00:02:08,288 disappeared in Western Europe 56 00:02:08,288 --> 00:02:11,279 and were replaced by the works of people like St. Benedict, 57 00:02:11,279 --> 00:02:14,363 which brings us back to these depictions of Jesus and Mary. 58 00:02:14,363 --> 00:02:17,622 Because Christianity had so fervently rejected physical beauty, 59 00:02:17,622 --> 00:02:19,746 these medieval artists purposefully avoided 60 00:02:19,746 --> 00:02:21,747 aesthetically pleasing forms. 61 00:02:21,747 --> 00:02:24,299 At first, decorations for churches or palaces 62 00:02:24,299 --> 00:02:26,647 were limited to interesting geometric patterns, 63 00:02:26,647 --> 00:02:27,660 which could be pleasing 64 00:02:27,660 --> 00:02:31,007 without inspiring sinful thoughts of physical pleasure. 65 00:02:31,007 --> 00:02:32,516 As the medieval period progressed, 66 00:02:32,516 --> 00:02:34,426 depictions of Jesus and Mary were tolerated, 67 00:02:34,426 --> 00:02:37,013 but the artist clearly made an effort to veil Mary 68 00:02:37,013 --> 00:02:39,437 and give her disproportionately large legs, 69 00:02:39,437 --> 00:02:41,767 with those enormous shin bones. 70 00:02:41,767 --> 00:02:44,111 The fear remained that a beautiful illustration of Mary 71 00:02:44,111 --> 00:02:45,898 might inspire the viewer to love the painting 72 00:02:45,898 --> 00:02:47,606 or the physical form of Mary, 73 00:02:47,606 --> 00:02:50,444 rather than the virtue she's meant to represent. 74 00:02:50,444 --> 00:02:52,069 So even though it may be fun to think we can paint 75 00:02:52,069 --> 00:02:54,625 more realistically than Cimabuey or Duccio, 76 00:02:54,625 --> 00:02:56,497 we need to remember that they had different goals 77 00:02:56,497 --> 00:02:58,481 when picking up a paintbrush.