I have a theory that initially a lot of these works were made for a laugh, like an old timey joke picture, and over time people kept adding meaning to them.
Like someone makes a rude and crude painting of a giant cock with eyes, makes people laugh, and a few thousand years later some bloke in a trilby goes “hmm, yes, it seems these people worshipped a penis god at this point in time. Also it clearly reads a prophecy, ‘deez nuts’. Fascinating.”
What the hell was the original context for this painting? 😆
It’s an illuminated manuscript depicting Saint Denis and Saint Piatus, said to have been decapitated for their beliefs.
Statue of St Denis
Edit: comes from this book: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livre_d'images_de_madame_Marie
Maybe they’re martyrs? Sometimes they’re depicted as walking around with their fatal injuries.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Altartafel_Kapelle_Spannweid_Zürich_Stadtheilige.jpg
They are actually comparing their new hairdo.
My thoughts exactly. All I can think of is that religious devotion requires giving away your brain??? It really is a bizarre illustration
I have a theory that initially a lot of these works were made for a laugh, like an old timey joke picture, and over time people kept adding meaning to them.
Like someone makes a rude and crude painting of a giant cock with eyes, makes people laugh, and a few thousand years later some bloke in a trilby goes “hmm, yes, it seems these people worshipped a penis god at this point in time. Also it clearly reads a prophecy, ‘deez nuts’. Fascinating.”
“Deez”, likely a derivative of Latin “Deus”. They were clearly a god fearing people!