Medieval art: Science and Creativity Intertwined

11 months ago

I would be going straight to the point, so hello to you, the amazing soul reading this

So recently, and uhm, when I say recently, I mean about 48 hours ago. I stumbled on a piece by accident, which was more mind-boggling than intriguing contextually. That's my unfiltered opinion, I would leave you to make your own judgment of course by dropping a source to that link in my "Resources used" at the end of my writeup based on my thought process.

Now the content of this piece (an article) had the image of a woman hurling a tiny demon, an eagle with human faces plastered on its body, and a man nonchalantly getting stabbed in the head—Now that's Medieval art style! Trully amazing and bizarre at the same time, weird and intriguing. A friend of mine called it the delightful madness of medieval art! wonder how he thought of that phrase

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Speaking of which, Olivia Swarthout’s is one of those few homo-sapiens who have had a wild ride into the wacky world of medieval illustrations. Brace yourself—these aren’t your average, run-of-the-mill artworks!

Now, my question to you is as a science lover, what goes through that big brain of yours, what do your mind process when you see something like the image woman throwing up or gulping down a demon? I thought of cannibalism in it extreme case with a bit of paranormal representation, but that aside.
Another illustration is an eagle having human faces all over it, is this a depiction of evolution if it went wrong, went through a different path or maybe it does feels that way because it is a phenomenon that hasn't actually happened, it looks bizarre, it sound bizzare right ? Okay, Greek mythology on mystical creatures aside, what if there was actually an animal like this? What would that mean? Process tht for a moment.

And hold up—there was an image of a dude with the most nonchalant expression while being brutally stabbed in the head! To me, that denote the freedom people crave in death as opposed to living a life of pain with no hope of that said pain ending soon. Now finding that freedom from pain in death, its saddening. Now the above is what you see or might see in a medieval illustration. Strange, bizarre, but there is always this meaning to be attributed in an uncommon, mostly non-conventional way

Now with all this being more of the theme in past medieval setting, Olivia Swarthout was one of those few homosapiens who have had a wild ride into the wacky world of medieval illustrations and became one of the modern-day curators of the wonderfully wacky illustrations, she embarked on a quest to capture the absurdly enchanting essence of medieval illustrations. Her book, "Weird Medieval Guys: How to Live, Laugh, Love (and Die) in Dark Times," was thought-provoking. She gathered the weirdest, most jaw-dropping illustrations from maps, manuscripts, and artworks put them forward, and captivated even scientific scholars

A picture of Olivia Swarthout

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What's more admirable? She’s not just showing off the bizarre; she’s making medieval art relatable! From an Exeter cathedral door with a hole for cats to an Instagram following of over 600,000, Olivia’s turned medieval art into a viral sensation.

From my point of view, medieval oddities are in a way connected to our modern lives, you just have to see the bigger picture. From the struggle of finding a date, lol, to the eternal saga of dealing with the unexpected, the uncertain, dealing with a little thing called the plague just like we had covid 19 and the like, we’ve got more in common with our medieval pals than we might think!

Medieval artists weren't just about pretty portraits and towering cathedrals. Oh no, they were sneaky scientists in disguise! They didn't have microscopes or lab coats, but they were slyly experimenting with optics and perspective. They played with light, shading, and depth to trick the eye into seeing a three-dimensional world on a flat canvas, an illusion which is not illusive.

Mind you, these artists were playing with colors and chemical reactions to create mind-blowing scenes that lit up like a mystical kaleidoscope. Science wasn't just a distant cousin when it came to medieval art, it was the secret sauce that added that extra oomph to their masterpieces. It was a time where creativity and curiosity danced together with science playing melodiously in the background

Mind you, these art or illustrations provided insight into the everyday lives of our medieval ancestors in a way that science might struggle to do and what's intriguing is that we can totally relate to those insights beyond just painting and drawings. It’s like peering through a time-traveling telescope and discovering a whole new universe—one that’s weird, and strangely relatable. Suddenly, history isn’t so far removed from us after all! Medieval art might just hold the key to understanding the past and having more understanding on evolution in the 21st century who knows

Overall, I couldn’t help but chuckle reading about how these medieval artists weren't trying to be the Michelangelos of their time—they were just regular folks doing a job. The end result? Freakiish illustrations that not only entertaine but also beyond being a sighte too behold offer a fascinating peek into life and evolution in general. The rich fabric of history woven into these weird images peels away the layers of judgment made about their artistic skills and reveals a treasure trove of insights on evolution in it smallest form. Now if that doesn't scream science, I don't know what does.

Thanks for going through this medieval journey with me