medieval

These medieval paintings of animals will never get old, and there are always new ridiculous paintings to discover! Last time, it was revealed to the world that paintings, during the Medieval Ages, were filled with cats licking their own butts. 

No, we are not kidding. It's totally a real thing and we don't know why. And now, thanks to Twitter user, @DannyDutch, we have new Medieval art to gawk and obsess over. A thread of medieval paintings of animals that look nothing like the animals they are supposed to be. Why? Because the artists themselves have never seen these animals before, and are going off of descriptions of said animal. 

Reminds us of how we picture dinosaurs today. Who knows, we could be terribly off when it comes to the prehistoric giants. 

Why medieval animal painting is your favorite? We slightly intrigued and afraid of the beaver. 

So many things have been said about the new "Cats" movie but one twitter user decided to take action and describe each and every cast member of the movie "Cats" as medieval cat painting and we can't stop laughing. 

If you were to look at art from the Middle Ages, you might find yourself staring at some knights in a fierce battle with ...uh... snails. 

Why snails? That is a completely mystery. There are some theories Digital Medievalist, Lisa Spangenberg says that "the armored snail fighting the armored knight is a reminder of the inevitability of death," a sentiment captured in Psalm 58 of the bible: "Like a snail that melteth away into slime, they shall be taken away; like a dead-born child, they shall not see the sun."

What do you think it could mean? 

And no one seems to be talking about it!

There are "illuminated manuscripts" that were created by Medieval monks that are holy books, filled with beautiful and meaningful works of art. And sometimes, the Medieval monks would just draw cats...licking their butts.  

I know what you're thinking, basically we are thinking it too, "Why?" 

No one really seems to know for sure. Apparently, butt licking cats is a weirdly common theme in medieval art. There is one theory that we also believe in, that theory is these cats were just etched in the margins by bored monks who did so to amuse themselves. Remember that scene in Superbad, where the main character had a fascination with drawing a certain phallic part of the male anatomy? 

Perhaps, this is sort of like that. Perhaps the idea of sneaking these lewd cats into these holy books was just a funny inside joke that the monks would pass along, and on those particularly long and boring days, scribble pictures of cats taking care of their basic hygiene. 

In the end, we'll probably never learn the truth but in the meantime, we can enjoy the art. 

The Middle Ages from the 5th to 15th century have gifted us with some ancient artifacts and relics that we, modern-day humans, have ogled and awed at over for centuries. And none of these ancient artifacts has most captivated our cat-lover minds as their medieval cat art. Cats have long since been admired and intriguing to the masses, and what better way than to preserve their memory and what they mean to you and your culture than with some art? Check out these weird paintings. 

Jeff de Boer sculpts these incredible works of art, inspired by his own cat.