Dear readers, as you may or may not have
noticed, I disappeared for a little while.
Ok, so maybe it was almost a year.
But my excuse is that in that time I
finished writing a book, got married, traveled for a month, moved to another
continent, and started a new job. Please
forgive my tardiness, and rest assured that I am BACK, with a renewed vigor for
mocking inconsequential details in artwork made by people far more talented and
popular (and usually dead) than me.
My last entry focused on paintings from the
National Gallery of Art in DC. As it
happens, I have now visited the gallery in person, and it turns out they have
way more than just awkward American portraits.
They have awkward paintings of everything. Thus, I am relaunching this blog with a
two-part series of paintings of Madonna and Baby Jesus found at the NGA: the
first will focus on images in which the holy duo is in some way a little….odd,
and the second will look at some of the weird groupies that seemed to hang
around with Madonna and Baby Jesus when they were posing for a painting (which
was apparently all they did between baby ages 0-10). You can find all of these images in their online repository.
We’ll start with Mafia Madonna.
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Madonna
and Child with Saint Jerome and Saint John the Baptist - Cima da Conegliano, c.
1459-1517 or 1518 |
I quite like the technical
execution of this work. But my first thought
on seeing Momma’s face was, “If I mess with her baby, I will wake up to find a
horse head in my bed.” Even Baby Jesus
looks like he’s about to deal with St. Jerome’s stuttering excuses with a cool,
calculated measurement for new concrete shoes.
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It’s
not personal, it’s strictly business.
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Next up: Seizure Baby Jesus.
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The
Virgin Adoring the Child - Sandro Botticell, c. 1480-1490 |
Allegedly Mary is adoring her baby here,
but frankly I think she’s posed to defend herself from a child who is showing
signs of contorting and clawing for brains in early-onset zombie-itis.
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He
does come back from the dead eventually…
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This leads us straight into Possibly-A-Cadaver
Baby Jesus.
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Madonna
and Child Enthroned With Saint Peter and Saint Paul – Domenico di Bartolo, c.
1430
|
Seriously.
That baby is not a healthy color. If it weren’t for his smooth features,
I would have taken him for a shriveled centenarian.
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Or
maybe it’s greyscale? |
Also, I think that Saint Peter should get
that lazy eye seen to.
Poor Saint Paul’s male pattern baldness has
left him susceptible to forehead tarantulas, as well.
Sometimes, instead of being tiny and
shriveled, Baby Jesus is a ginormous monster.
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The
Adoration of the Child – Filippino Lippi, c. 1475-1480
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I do not understand how Mary survived the labor. Although given her hands, and the fact that
she seems to be kneeling, maybe he gets his big-boned-ness from his
mother. And the angel has a shrunken skull.
And now, for Animal Sacrifice Jesus.
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Madonna
Enthroned with Saints – Puccio di Simone and Allegretto Nuzi, c. 1354
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At least the baby is not obviously deformed
in this painting. However, upon closer
inspection he appears to be choking a bird while wearing a tribal
necklace.
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Who’s
a cute little animal mauler? YOU
are! Yes you are! |
These symbols appears in a
number
of works: the bird is a finch, to represent his future sacrifice, and the
necklace is coral, to protect against evil.
I guess he must have lost that necklace when, you know, he was later
betrayed and murdered. Maybe it was
because of his animal strangling hobby.
Sometimes, Baby Jesus is depicted as like someone I
would not want to leave my own children alone with.
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Madonna
and Child – Domenico Veneziano, c. 1445/1450 |
He looks like he’s either going to have his
way with all the women, or make you a terrible deal on a used car, all before
he’s been potty trained.
Now, I leave you with this statue.
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Madonna and Child with Two Angels - Verona, 14th Century |
Mary and Clearly-Not-A-Baby Jesus will
DEVOUR YOUR SOUL.
Sleep well!