Quote Originally Posted by Vitruviansquid View Post
It was also common to see really bad history in actual medieval pictures. Medieval artists would put the ancient Greek characters of, say, the siege of Troy, in medieval mail armor with medieval helmets and wearing the latest in medieval fashions.
Yes but that wasn't necessarily out of ignorance - in fact typically it was intentional. They knew what Roman and Greek armor looked like from Roman and Greek art, in fact they used to make imitations of it sometimes, and sort of hybrid designs for both weapons and armor.

You have to keep in mind, late medieval and Renaissance art was almost always representative of several things simultaneously. it was very common to have a painting, a tapestry or a fresco which was Greek or biblical story on the surface, a contemporary political allegory beneath that (referring for example to recent battles, elections or other events), religious controversies or factional positions which may or may not overlap with the politics, and a personal story which had directly to do with the artists immediate circle of friends, family and associates (for example the models who were quite often lovers of the artist).

For example, this famous triptych by Hans Memling featuring the Last Judgement, shows the guy who commissioned the painting, Thomas Portinari, the Medici agent for Bruges, being judged worthy next to his wife. On the far right side you can see people burning in hellfire. if you look closely, many of them are tonsured. Apparently these were Dominican friars and allied priests who Memling disliked. Conversely being judged worthy are several members of a political faction in Bruges (town councilors and guild aldermen and their wives) who advocated neutrality in the Anglo-Hanseatic war instead of siding with England. Two of the women in the background were former girlfriends of Memling and he also put one of his drinking buddies on the 'going to hell' side as a joke. There are also apparently some inside jokes to do with the physical appearance of some of the naked people, which Memling and his audience were familiar with from the baths.

The fact that Saint Michael is wearing a nice Milanese harness or that there is a 15th Century style sword in the top of the painting is simply due to Memlings personal preference, as are similar 'anachronisms' in his paintings to do with Biblical stories or Greek fables.


Ironically on it's way to Florence in a heavily armed Italian galley, this painting was captured by a privateer under a Danzig city-councilor named Paul Benecke, due to an embargo being enforced by the Hanseatic league because of the Anglo-Hanseatic War, and ended up in Danzig (Gdansk) where it remains to this day.




Spoiler: Full Size
Show


I happen to know a bit about this one painting because of research I did on that war, but I've run across many similar deeply complex stories, wheels within wheels so to speak, on many other Flemish, German and Italian paintings.

G