WEBVTT 00:00:14.863 --> 00:00:16.925 Ever see a medieval painting of baby Jesus 00:00:16.925 --> 00:00:18.469 sitting or standing on his mother's lap 00:00:18.469 --> 00:00:20.595 and wonder why she's so large? 00:00:20.595 --> 00:00:22.990 Paintings like Cimabue's enthroned Madonna with angels 00:00:22.990 --> 00:00:24.321 or Duccio's Maesta 00:00:24.321 --> 00:00:26.184 also appear out of proportion. 00:00:26.184 --> 00:00:27.987 If Mary were to stand up, it seems, 00:00:27.987 --> 00:00:30.577 the angels in the picture would be as tall as her shin bone, 00:00:30.577 --> 00:00:32.521 and her torso would be disproportionately small 00:00:32.521 --> 00:00:34.237 when compared to her legs. 00:00:34.237 --> 00:00:36.119 Maybe you thought the artist simply wasn't skilled enough 00:00:36.119 --> 00:00:37.363 to paint realistically 00:00:37.363 --> 00:00:39.338 or lacked the mathematical skill of perspective. 00:00:39.338 --> 00:00:40.824 But that's not the full story. 00:00:40.824 --> 00:00:42.695 To understand why, we need to go back 00:00:42.695 --> 00:00:44.174 to the late fifth century 00:00:44.174 --> 00:00:46.543 when the city of Rome was attacked by the Goths. 00:00:46.543 --> 00:00:48.936 Rome was built in marble and meant to last forever. 00:00:48.936 --> 00:00:50.417 It represented, for many years, 00:00:50.417 --> 00:00:52.168 the pinnacle of human civilization, 00:00:52.168 --> 00:00:54.919 so its destruction left a huge void. 00:00:55.933 --> 00:00:58.820 Theologians, who preached about a world beyond the physical, 00:00:58.820 --> 00:01:01.019 began attracting an audience as Rome crumbled, 00:01:01.019 --> 00:01:04.660 and Christianity started to fill the void left by the Empire. 00:01:04.660 --> 00:01:07.108 As a replacement for the physical beauty of Rome, 00:01:07.108 --> 00:01:09.852 Christianity offered a metaphysical beauty of virtue 00:01:09.852 --> 00:01:11.156 and an eternal heaven 00:01:11.156 --> 00:01:13.483 that could not be destroyed as Rome had. 00:01:13.483 --> 00:01:14.857 After the fall of Rome, 00:01:14.857 --> 00:01:17.867 early medieval theologians turned away from physical beauty, 00:01:17.867 --> 00:01:20.113 rejecting it in favor of inner-beauty. 00:01:20.113 --> 00:01:22.738 They maintained that while the physical world was temporary, 00:01:22.738 --> 00:01:25.086 virtue and religion were permanent. 00:01:25.086 --> 00:01:27.829 Beautiful objects could lead to a misguided worship of the object 00:01:27.829 --> 00:01:30.104 rather than the worship of goodness. 00:01:30.104 --> 00:01:32.371 It is said that the early sixth century preacher, St. Benedict, 00:01:32.371 --> 00:01:33.991 upon thinking of a beautiful woman, 00:01:33.991 --> 00:01:35.927 threw himself into a thorn patch, 00:01:35.927 --> 00:01:37.074 and through his suffering, 00:01:37.074 --> 00:01:39.477 regained his focus on spiritual beauty. 00:01:39.477 --> 00:01:40.953 He feared his desire for the beautiful woman 00:01:40.953 --> 00:01:43.898 would distract him from his desire to love God. 00:01:43.898 --> 00:01:47.064 As European civilization transitioned away from empires 00:01:47.064 --> 00:01:48.337 and towards religion, 00:01:48.337 --> 00:01:50.997 monasteries became the gatekeepers of knowledge, 00:01:50.997 --> 00:01:52.384 which meant that classical books 00:01:52.384 --> 00:01:53.676 that praised physical pleasures 00:01:53.676 --> 00:01:55.760 were not copied or protected. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:58.691 Without protection, they became the victims of natural decay, 00:01:58.691 --> 00:01:59.872 fire, 00:01:59.872 --> 00:02:00.653 flooding, 00:02:00.653 --> 00:02:01.739 or pests. 00:02:01.739 --> 00:02:04.034 And without the help of monks transcribing new copies, 00:02:04.034 --> 00:02:06.514 these texts and the philosophies they carried 00:02:06.514 --> 00:02:08.288 disappeared in Western Europe 00:02:08.288 --> 00:02:11.279 and were replaced by the works of people like St. Benedict, 00:02:11.279 --> 00:02:14.363 which brings us back to these depictions of Jesus and Mary. 00:02:14.363 --> 00:02:17.622 Because Christianity had so fervently rejected physical beauty, 00:02:17.622 --> 00:02:19.746 these medieval artists purposefully avoided 00:02:19.746 --> 00:02:21.747 aesthetically pleasing forms. 00:02:21.747 --> 00:02:24.299 At first, decorations for churches or palaces 00:02:24.299 --> 00:02:26.647 were limited to interesting geometric patterns, 00:02:26.647 --> 00:02:27.660 which could be pleasing 00:02:27.660 --> 00:02:31.007 without inspiring sinful thoughts of physical pleasure. 00:02:31.007 --> 00:02:32.516 As the medieval period progressed, 00:02:32.516 --> 00:02:34.426 depictions of Jesus and Mary were tolerated, 00:02:34.426 --> 00:02:37.013 but the artist clearly made an effort to veil Mary 00:02:37.013 --> 00:02:39.437 and give her disproportionately large legs, 00:02:39.437 --> 00:02:41.767 with those enormous shin bones. 00:02:41.767 --> 00:02:44.111 The fear remained that a beautiful illustration of Mary 00:02:44.111 --> 00:02:45.898 might inspire the viewer to love the painting 00:02:45.898 --> 00:02:47.606 or the physical form of Mary, 00:02:47.606 --> 00:02:50.444 rather than the virtue she's meant to represent. 00:02:50.444 --> 00:02:52.069 So even though it may be fun to think we can paint 00:02:52.069 --> 00:02:54.625 more realistically than Cimabuey or Duccio, 00:02:54.625 --> 00:02:56.497 we need to remember that they had different goals 00:02:56.497 --> 00:02:58.481 when picking up a paintbrush.