The hilarious explanations behind some of the popular medieval art memes you may have seen online without context.

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A lot of art from the Middle Ages is so bizarre, it seems… beyond explanation. Which is why it’s no surprise that these seemingly nonsensical images have become popular sources of memes in recent years. It’s hard not to look at some images and ask yourself… wait, what is going on here?

So, for this entry into the archive, I try to track down the real meaning behind some of these images that have circulated on the internet without context. But keep in mind that what I’ve found in my research is that for many illustrations… medieval art historians are just as confused as the rest of us.

With that said, let’s dive into the bizarre world of medieval memes.

0:00 Medieval Memes
0:46 Unfortunate Babies
1:55 Too Chill?
2:44 Strange Skeletons
3:47 Dangerous Rabbits
4:42 Unusual SelfPortraits
5:52 Miscellaneous Madness
6:59 Attacking Snails
8:03 Outro

Sources:
Old Medieval Babies Hannah Keyser: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/6...
Relaxed Faces James L. Fredericks: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/ar...
The Danse Macabre MarieMadeleine Renauld: https://www.thecollector.com/dansema...
Dangerous Rabbits Colin Marshall: https://www.openculture.com/2019/03/k...
Joseph Ducreux’s SelfPortraits: https://publicdomainreview.org/collec...

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