17 ms·

Sexy weasels in Renaissance art

173 points by okfine 7y ago

classichasclass 7y ago
Once you see it you can't unsee it, apparently. One wonders what other bizarre cultural subtexts we're missing in other historical art periods.
- taneq 7y ago
  Snails, for one: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-were-medieval-knights-always-fighting-snails-1728888/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-were-medieval-... And some others, if you'll excuse the listicle: https://listverse.com/2017/11/29/10-weird-trends-that-keep-showing-up-in-medieval-art/ https://listverse.com/2017/11/29/10-weird-trends-that-keep-s...
  - fit2rule 7y ago
    I've heard it said that the monks who wrote these manuscripts and inscribed their snail battles, did so as a means of presenting their piety. In order to understand this one must realise that a monk had very few real enemies in the world - they were above these worldly pursuits. But, monks still had to eat, and tend their gardens in order to do so - and what likes monks gardens more than the monk does? Why, snails of course. So when monks were not bent over, copying ancient secrets for future generations to pore over, they were to be found in their gardens, eradicating their mortal enemy the snail, lest the monk be forced to starve to death. To a monk in a tower, engaged in little other than intellectual pursuits, the mightiest foes indeed were the little creatures who could starve the inhabitants of the mightiest holy towers. So, that's why there are so many snails in the footnotes and margins of history. Because they were the mightiest foe for such humble folk to imagine...
    - FearNotDaniel 7y ago
      That's very poetically written but I think you might be neglecting the fact that one of the monk's primary duties was (and still is) to lead a life of prayer, and in their worldview this is very much an ongoing spiritual battle against Satan and all his demons who are continuously attempting to overthrow the kingdom of God, mostly by tempting the people of the surrounding lands into sin or by allowing their opponents to prevail. Snails are a real threat too, but by no means the only enemy in the mind of an actual practising monk.
      - jacquesm 7y ago
        > an ongoing spiritual battle against Satan and all his demons who are continuously attempting to overthrow the kingdom of God, mostly by tempting the people of the surrounding lands into sin or by allowing their opponents to prevail Sure, but that's all make-believe; snails are real.
        saagarjha 7y ago
        Depending on your religion, they might be equally real. The threat posed by snails might be more immediate, though.
        darkpuma 7y ago
        > Sure, but that's all make-believe Not from the perspective of many (but not all) monks. I think you're having a theory of mind failure here.
      - jandrese 7y ago
        Who's to say the snails aren't agents of Satan? These monks may be fighting actual demons in their gardens. It's not like old Scratch is a stranger to using animal proxies. His first documented appearance has him in snake form.
- dalbasal 7y ago
  Michaelangelo's "creation of Adam" depicts God as a human brain. Apparently nobody noticed untill the 90s. It's hard not to see it when you see it. A lot of fun interesting possibilities for deep metaphor. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CA4SF_GUkAAiJ5S.jpg?format=jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CA4SF_GUkAAiJ5S.jpg?format=jpg&n... PS: reason for the downvotes? just curious.
  - jacquesm 7y ago
    Never noticed that, thank you for pointing it out. There is a lot of evidence for Michaelangelo dissecting corpses with the tacit approval of the church, it made his art stand out substantially because of his knowledge of the muscles and bones underlying the skin and the fabric.
  - interfixus 7y ago
    I share your curiosity: Who on earth would downvote this? Quirky, interesting new titbit for our collection of trivia and learned matter, thank you.
    - HNLurker2 7y ago
      HN is a strange place
    - colanderman 7y ago
      Probably because of the source (Cracked.com, a humor site, albeit one which does often share interesting knowledge in a quirky way). Downvoters could be reading the post as a joke rather than in earnest. Apparently it is a legitimate published theory, as noted in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam#Portrayal_of_the_human_brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam#Portrayal... So is the theory that the shape represents the postpartum uterus, which seems thematically more fitting.
      - dalbasal 7y ago
        That would be my fault. I just googled for an image.
taneq 7y ago
I didn't realise that most of the sexy weasels would be dead. :(
- classichasclass 7y ago
  To some people that's awfully sexy.
- NikkiA 7y ago
  It's been hundreds of years, weasels just don't have that kind of lifespan...
erikig 7y ago
These were probably the visual memes of their age and seem to have survived primarily because their patrons were able to pay for them to be immortalized.
hnthrowaway67 7y ago
Is this where the bikini brand Wicked Weasel (NFSW!) gets its name from?
miguelmota 7y ago
Had no idea that dead weasels were used as fashion items. That is a very interesting website, some freaky stuff on there.
- masklinn 7y ago
  > A zibellino, flea-fur or fur tippet is a women's fashion accessory popular in the later 15th and 16th centuries. A zibellino, from the Italian word for "sable", is the pelt of a sable or marten worn draped at the neck or hanging at the waist, or carried in the hand. The plural is zibellini. Some zibellini were fitted with faces and paws of goldsmith's work with jeweled eyes and pearl earrings, while unadorned furs were also fashionable. TIL today's fashion really is no dumber than it was 5 centuries ago.
  - mcguire 7y ago
    Take note of the name: flea-fur. IIRC, the idea was that fleas, lice, and other parasites would jump onto the fur rather than you. I doubt it worked, but people weren't any smarter back then, either.
- Sharlin 7y ago
  Well, dead mustelids (and vulpines) are still used as fashion items.
- pvaldes 7y ago
  The dead animals are martens and the live animals domestic ferrets. The true weasels are tiny.
carlob 7y ago
Obligatory negative HN comment: it's Lorenzo Lotto, not Lorenzo Lorro. This mistake is repeated 4 times in the article!
mci 7y ago
When I was a kid, the Leonardo painting was called "Lady with a Weasel". Now they claim it is "Lady with an Ermine". Most probably, though, it is "Lady with a Polecat-Ferret Hybrid".
- paulgerhardt 7y ago
  It's a polecat. No doubt about it. Leonardo was, among other things, the period's best anatomist. He captured, in charcoal, light bouncing off water like no artist, literally, ever before. He came up with concepts for bridges, armored cars, clocks, and scuba gear. If he wanted to, he could paint an ermine. He chose not to. Cecilia Gallerani was the 15 year old Kim Kardashian of the era. After multiple incidents with the teenager critiquing Leonardo's ability ("but it does not look like me" she complained - "well yeah" he thought "in reality your chin is much less pronounced and your nose more so"), invitations to pretentious salons she would preside over which he could not decline, and other confrontations with the slippery social climber he decided (at great personal risk) to pull the wool over her eyes a bit and paint her with an animal more inline with her behavior. Her lover (and Leonardo's patron) did likely see through all this. Ludovico Sforza was a savvy guy, and having gone on his share of hunts (not to mention being a member of the Knights of Ermine), also would know the difference between a spade and a shovel as it were, but his life was further complicated by a marriage to a different 15 year old later that year. The best he could do was come up with a pretense to not show the painting too widely amongst the cognoscenti - which is exactly what happened.
  - the_af 7y ago
    Very interesting, thanks! But that would make the explanation from the article false, wouldn't it? If it's not an ermine, then it cannot be a "message" to Cecilia's lover, a Knight of Ermine. This secret message is lost if both Leonardo and Ludovico know it's not an ermine but a polecat... (As an unrelated aside, polecat-ferrets are forever linked in my mind to Sredni Vashtar, that wonderful short story by Saki!)
    - paulgerhardt 7y ago
mywittyname 7y ago
I find it interesting that the Lynx as a symbol of a childless woman has held into the modern era: cat ladies.
news_to_me 7y ago
Super interesting article. > Also, I refuse to put up one of those obnoxious “SIGN UP NOW!” pop-ups on the site, because I find them ridiculously annoying I can't express enough gratitude for this, though.
- hombre_fatal 7y ago
  I found it ingratiating.

173 points by okfine 7y ago

Once you see it you can't unsee it, apparently. One wonders what other bizarre cultural subtexts we're missing in other historical art periods.

taneq 7y ago
Snails, for one: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-were-medieval-knights-always-fighting-snails-1728888/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-were-medieval-... And some others, if you'll excuse the listicle: https://listverse.com/2017/11/29/10-weird-trends-that-keep-showing-up-in-medieval-art/ https://listverse.com/2017/11/29/10-weird-trends-that-keep-s...
- fit2rule 7y ago
  I've heard it said that the monks who wrote these manuscripts and inscribed their snail battles, did so as a means of presenting their piety. In order to understand this one must realise that a monk had very few real enemies in the world - they were above these worldly pursuits. But, monks still had to eat, and tend their gardens in order to do so - and what likes monks gardens more than the monk does? Why, snails of course. So when monks were not bent over, copying ancient secrets for future generations to pore over, they were to be found in their gardens, eradicating their mortal enemy the snail, lest the monk be forced to starve to death. To a monk in a tower, engaged in little other than intellectual pursuits, the mightiest foes indeed were the little creatures who could starve the inhabitants of the mightiest holy towers. So, that's why there are so many snails in the footnotes and margins of history. Because they were the mightiest foe for such humble folk to imagine...
  - FearNotDaniel 7y ago
    That's very poetically written but I think you might be neglecting the fact that one of the monk's primary duties was (and still is) to lead a life of prayer, and in their worldview this is very much an ongoing spiritual battle against Satan and all his demons who are continuously attempting to overthrow the kingdom of God, mostly by tempting the people of the surrounding lands into sin or by allowing their opponents to prevail. Snails are a real threat too, but by no means the only enemy in the mind of an actual practising monk.
    - jacquesm 7y ago
      > an ongoing spiritual battle against Satan and all his demons who are continuously attempting to overthrow the kingdom of God, mostly by tempting the people of the surrounding lands into sin or by allowing their opponents to prevail Sure, but that's all make-believe; snails are real.
      - saagarjha 7y ago
        Depending on your religion, they might be equally real. The threat posed by snails might be more immediate, though.
      - darkpuma 7y ago
        > Sure, but that's all make-believe Not from the perspective of many (but not all) monks. I think you're having a theory of mind failure here.
    - jandrese 7y ago
      Who's to say the snails aren't agents of Satan? These monks may be fighting actual demons in their gardens. It's not like old Scratch is a stranger to using animal proxies. His first documented appearance has him in snake form.
dalbasal 7y ago
Michaelangelo's "creation of Adam" depicts God as a human brain. Apparently nobody noticed untill the 90s. It's hard not to see it when you see it. A lot of fun interesting possibilities for deep metaphor. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CA4SF_GUkAAiJ5S.jpg?format=jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CA4SF_GUkAAiJ5S.jpg?format=jpg&n... PS: reason for the downvotes? just curious.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  Never noticed that, thank you for pointing it out. There is a lot of evidence for Michaelangelo dissecting corpses with the tacit approval of the church, it made his art stand out substantially because of his knowledge of the muscles and bones underlying the skin and the fabric.
- interfixus 7y ago
  I share your curiosity: Who on earth would downvote this? Quirky, interesting new titbit for our collection of trivia and learned matter, thank you.
  - HNLurker2 7y ago
    HN is a strange place
  - colanderman 7y ago
    Probably because of the source (Cracked.com, a humor site, albeit one which does often share interesting knowledge in a quirky way). Downvoters could be reading the post as a joke rather than in earnest. Apparently it is a legitimate published theory, as noted in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam#Portrayal_of_the_human_brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam#Portrayal... So is the theory that the shape represents the postpartum uterus, which seems thematically more fitting.
    - dalbasal 7y ago
      That would be my fault. I just googled for an image.

taneq 7y ago

I didn't realise that most of the sexy weasels would be dead. :(

classichasclass 7y ago
To some people that's awfully sexy.
NikkiA 7y ago
It's been hundreds of years, weasels just don't have that kind of lifespan...

erikig 7y ago

These were probably the visual memes of their age and seem to have survived primarily because their patrons were able to pay for them to be immortalized.

hnthrowaway67 7y ago

Is this where the bikini brand Wicked Weasel (NFSW!) gets its name from?

miguelmota 7y ago

Had no idea that dead weasels were used as fashion items. That is a very interesting website, some freaky stuff on there.

masklinn 7y ago
> A zibellino, flea-fur or fur tippet is a women's fashion accessory popular in the later 15th and 16th centuries. A zibellino, from the Italian word for "sable", is the pelt of a sable or marten worn draped at the neck or hanging at the waist, or carried in the hand. The plural is zibellini. Some zibellini were fitted with faces and paws of goldsmith's work with jeweled eyes and pearl earrings, while unadorned furs were also fashionable. TIL today's fashion really is no dumber than it was 5 centuries ago.
- mcguire 7y ago
  Take note of the name: flea-fur. IIRC, the idea was that fleas, lice, and other parasites would jump onto the fur rather than you. I doubt it worked, but people weren't any smarter back then, either.
Sharlin 7y ago
Well, dead mustelids (and vulpines) are still used as fashion items.
pvaldes 7y ago
The dead animals are martens and the live animals domestic ferrets. The true weasels are tiny.

carlob 7y ago

Obligatory negative HN comment: it's Lorenzo Lotto, not Lorenzo Lorro. This mistake is repeated 4 times in the article!

mci 7y ago

When I was a kid, the Leonardo painting was called "Lady with a Weasel". Now they claim it is "Lady with an Ermine". Most probably, though, it is "Lady with a Polecat-Ferret Hybrid".

paulgerhardt 7y ago
It's a polecat. No doubt about it. Leonardo was, among other things, the period's best anatomist. He captured, in charcoal, light bouncing off water like no artist, literally, ever before. He came up with concepts for bridges, armored cars, clocks, and scuba gear. If he wanted to, he could paint an ermine. He chose not to. Cecilia Gallerani was the 15 year old Kim Kardashian of the era. After multiple incidents with the teenager critiquing Leonardo's ability ("but it does not look like me" she complained - "well yeah" he thought "in reality your chin is much less pronounced and your nose more so"), invitations to pretentious salons she would preside over which he could not decline, and other confrontations with the slippery social climber he decided (at great personal risk) to pull the wool over her eyes a bit and paint her with an animal more inline with her behavior. Her lover (and Leonardo's patron) did likely see through all this. Ludovico Sforza was a savvy guy, and having gone on his share of hunts (not to mention being a member of the Knights of Ermine), also would know the difference between a spade and a shovel as it were, but his life was further complicated by a marriage to a different 15 year old later that year. The best he could do was come up with a pretense to not show the painting too widely amongst the cognoscenti - which is exactly what happened.
- the_af 7y ago
  Very interesting, thanks! But that would make the explanation from the article false, wouldn't it? If it's not an ermine, then it cannot be a "message" to Cecilia's lover, a Knight of Ermine. This secret message is lost if both Leonardo and Ludovico know it's not an ermine but a polecat... (As an unrelated aside, polecat-ferrets are forever linked in my mind to Sredni Vashtar, that wonderful short story by Saki!)
  - paulgerhardt 7y ago

mywittyname 7y ago

I find it interesting that the Lynx as a symbol of a childless woman has held into the modern era: cat ladies.

news_to_me 7y ago

Super interesting article. > Also, I refuse to put up one of those obnoxious “SIGN UP NOW!” pop-ups on the site, because I find them ridiculously annoying I can't express enough gratitude for this, though.

hombre_fatal 7y ago
I found it ingratiating.