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Medieval cat paintings5/29/2023 As soon as the couple that lived in Eden lost their character of purity, they were expelled and lowered to the condition of fallen nature, inferior or corrupted, almost as wild as an animal couple. The Bible speaks of the physical and spiritual purity of the first human beings (Adam and Eve) before falling under the temptation of the Forbidden Fruit and committing the first original sin. Through these drawings or paintings, they wanted to represent the vices, sins, and virtues of humans in animals to give a moral lesson. The representation of animals with human faces (especially cats) walking on two legs, clutching objects, or playing musical instruments, is not the product of chance or the whim of creating fantastic art. Since an image has a much more immediate and sometimes more impacting character, the Church decided that, through art, it could make known the moral message it wished to instill in its parishioners.Īlmost all medieval art fulfills this educational mission by the imposition on the artists, who renounced carrying out personal work in pursuit of serving the Church in its campaign. The distribution of pamphlets was unthinkable since no one could understand the texts printed there. Given the lack of education and culture of the majority of the population, somehow the Church had to get the messages of indoctrination to its faithful followers. Knowledge was in the hands (and in the minds) of a few who could read, usually people close to the Church and from wealthy homes who decided the lives of all peasants and people belonging to the working class. Scientific, philosophical, and religious questions were not part of their mental patterns. Their world was reduced to satisfying their hunger, making their clothes, bringing firewood to their homes to warm the long winter nights, and little else. Women, men, and even children harvested, hunted, and traded to earn their daily sustenance. In the Middle Ages, most of the population lacked adequate education to enable them to think beyond solving their basic daily needs. Why Do Cats Have Human Faces in Medieval Paintings?
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