Photos From The Christian Culture Museum In Utrecht

[uair01]

Today we visited the Christian Culture Museum in Utrecht. I couldn’t help noticing a few weird exhibits and hope you will be amused.

Sorry for the bad quality of some pictures. My camera batteries were almost gone and I couldn't afford to take many pictures to get it exactly right.

I always checked with my wife first and asked if she also saw some slight weirdness. So all exhibits below should have some Fortean merit:

Jesus Christ backpack. Imagine throwing the face of Our Lord on the floor of your local school. No further comment necessary:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/christ_backpack.jpg

Soap to wash away sins.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/sin_soap.jpg

A Clive Barker from the time of the reformation. Nice pope devil hybrid:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/pope_devil.jpg

Death shooting arrows at the onlooker. From a late medieval a Last Judgement scene:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/death_bow.jpg

A 10th century hammer that allegedly was used by St Martin to topple idols. The Latin text says something like : “How can they be of any value if they topple so easily …” (Too bad they didn’t leave a few pagan shrines intact!)

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/idol_hammer.jpg

A silver mini coffin. It was approximately 20 cm long:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/death_box.jpg

A sexually explicit Madonna. A bit too explicit for my taste:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/explicit_madonna.jpg

A relatively convincing Dracula and Child:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/dracula_nativity.jpg

Theologically correct but really weird. Maria visits Elisabeth and you can see the babies inside their wombs:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/maria_elisabeth.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/maria_elisbeth_womb.jpg

A convincing Martin Luther lookalike on a Catholic nativity scene. Later I saw a real picture of Luther in the same museum and the likeness is striking:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/luther_nativity.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/luther.jpg

A rather cool and modern looking Maria and Angel. Look at the looks in their eyes, there’s more than pure spirituality happening here:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/cool_annunciation.jpg


Note : All of this is not meant to be blasphemous. But some people take their faith to some weird extremes and I don't think it's bad to see some Fortean quality in that. I'm a practicing Catholic myself and just to put things straight I'll post an artwork from the same museum that I find genuinely moving:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/christ_on_cold_stone.jpg

Note: I hope the mods don't move this to the "religion and cults" of "fortean art" sections. Nobody ever reads those and all the work I've done will be for nothing ... :?

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Thanks, uair01! I'll have to check out that museum next time I'm in Utrecht.

 

[GNC]

Excellent selection. I don't know if that Madonna is sexually explicit exactly (not as explicit as Mrs Ritchie, at any rate), it looks to me nothing less innocent than she's offering to breastfeed the baby Jesus.

 

[rjmrjmrjm]

Ah, medieval christianity. When they weren't afraid to show natural acts. Damn the victorian protestants...

 

[OneWingedBird]

A sexually explicit Madonna. A bit too explicit for my taste:

is it just me, or does one boob look quite disturbingly larger than the other? :shock:

 

[placeholder]

is it just me, or does one boob look quite disturbingly larger than the other?

yeah a bit but there seems to be a lopsided boob effect in a lot of the breast feeding Madonna stuff

Ah, medieval christianity. When they weren't afraid to show natural acts. Damn the victorian protestants...

apparently in some medieval miracle plays written and performed in English villages, the Virgin would swear and physically trample her enemies. That's the kind of Mother of God i can get behind. and it was the RC church that got rid of the breastfeeding Madonnas, cos it's dirty! :madeyes:

 

[rjmrjmrjm]

and it was the RC church that got rid of the breastfeeding Madonnas, cos it's dirty! :madeyes:

Really? I assumed that it was probably something to do with the reformation destruction of icons/statues/art and the beginning of puritinism that stopped the boobies being shown. I know that the miracle (mystery) plays that you describe were largely supressed by Henry VIII in the 1500's. I'd be interested to know more about this if you have any info!

From what i've read the medieval catholic church was far more relevant to the lives of ordinary people than today and it wasn't above taking the piss out of itself with the child-popes and the Feast of Fools etc...

 

[uair01]

it looks to me nothing less innocent than she's offering to breastfeed the baby Jesus.

It's not explicit in the modern sense of the word :? But my wife and I agreed that the painter must have painted the Child in the "I'm already full of milk" position, to better show the naked breast and the prominent nipple. Which - in my opinion - is not good for this subject.

But - as we saw in the same museum in the "Women in the Bible" exhibition - if you want to paint openly erotic scenes you can go for "David and Bathseba" of "Potifar's wife". If I had had more battery power I would have photographed that one - from 1600 but very sexy :shock:

And now that we've descended into lewd territory - surely you know that art critics supect that Bernini's sculpture of Theresa of Avila (a soulmate of St John of the Cross - a most fascinating saint) takes it inspiration from the orgasm of one of the sculptor's girfriends?

Picture:
http://www.boglewood.com/cornaro/xteresa.html

Simon Schama's main point was that Bernini was the first sculptor who was able to render life, in all its fleshly wonder, in marble - even with religious subjects. The Carmelite's face seems to synthesise religious and sexual ecstasy, and Schama was pretty convinced that she was enjoying a shuddering orgasm. And I suddenly realised that Bernini was one of the first artists to depict the creative tension between God and sex, between divine and erotic love, [...]

Although I find this a highly amusing piece of Forteana - I still think you shouldn't do that to a serious spiritual subject. I think a religius piece of art should not lead the viewer (especially me) into temptation (I'm easily tempted indeed)

 

[placeholder]

anyone who has never seen that Teresa of Avila statue before get a look at it ...the RC church has always been very good at deluding itself. although even the early medieval church had its doubts about flagellants and hairshirts, etc.

anyone interested in different approaches to the Virgin in art take a look at "Alone of All her Sex" by Marina Warner. i think she mentions that a final nail in the coffin of boobylicious Madonnas was a portrait where the model was the contemporary French king's mistress. The painting is very strange and rigid, her breast looks like an afterthought.

 

[bazizmaduno]

Excellent photos uair01 - thanks for sharing them with us.

One thing caught my eye;

A rather cool and modern looking Maria and Angel. Look at the looks in their eyes, there’s more than pure spirituality happening here:

To me, Maria looks to have her eyes directed to the book on the floor. The monogram on the cover I read as 'HG' and the date as 1504 or perhaps 1584.

As for the 'plaque' at the bottom l.h.s - my latin is non-existant - I read something along the lines of:
"SIRINISSIMO PRINCIPI AC IL
IVSERISSIMO p5o.D. GVILILLMS V
COMIT PALAY RNL VTAIVIQ
..."

Do you, or anyone else have an idea about this?

I love Maria's expression though. It suggests to me she is thinking "Oh, a weed. How nice!"

 

[Raya_Kaiserin]

Note : All of this is not meant to be blasphemous. But some people take their faith to some weird extremes and I don't think it's bad to see some Fortean quality in that. I'm a practicing Catholic myself and just to put things straight I'll post an artwork from the same museum that I find genuinely moving:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/christ_on_cold_stone.jpg

Is it wrong for me to think that Jesus just looks really, really bored in that statue? :?

 

[spiritdoctor]

Things like the babies in the womb only look weird to us because we are bombarded with photographs ect, I think all the pictures are highly expressive (well not the backpack because that's just cheesey. )

 

[OldTimeRadio]

I don't know if that Madonna is sexually explicit exactly....it looks to me nothing less innocent than she's offering to breastfeed the baby Jesus.

That's the same point I was going to make. This painting is but one of hundreds of "nursing Madonna and child" representations from the period. I confess that I never thought of them as "sexual" before....and still don't.

 

[placeholder]

i agree, they're generally not sexual but i suppose i saw my siblings, cousins, etc. all being breastfed so it doesn't bother me (although the first time i saw breastfeeding as a teenager i hadn't seen anyone do it in a while and i was a bit shocked!). The vast majority of the pictures are sweet and homey representations of Mary and Jesus, but some seem a little gratuitous!

 

[Mythopoeika]

Is this the 'Madonna with the Big Boobies' that they were always blathering on about on 'Allo 'Allo?

 

[OldTimeRadio]

is it just me, or does one boob look quite disturbingly larger than the other? :shock:

But isn't a disparity of size between one breast and another quite common anyway?

 

[myf13]

Yes, I think it is. At school, I had a friend who was convinced she was terribly lop-sided (she was planning to have surgery when she left school to correct it). I must confess I never noticed, and it certainly didn't seem to damage her popularity with the boys, but it really bothered her.

 

[TheQuixote]

Some artists only used or had access to male models - which could explain why the one breast is somewhat on the large side and less realistic than the rest of the figure. I believe Botticelli's Birth of Venus is a good example of this.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Some artists only used or had access to male models - which could explain why the one breast is somewhat on the large side and less realistic than the rest of the figure. I believe Botticelli's Birth of Venus is a good example of this.

Michaelangelo couldn't draw women.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Yes, I think it is. At school, I had a friend who was convinced she was terribly lop-sided (she was planning to have surgery when she left school to correct it). I must confess I never noticed, and it certainly didn't seem to damage her popularity with the boys, but it really bothered her.

I also had a girlfriend with different-sized breasts.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Michaelangelo couldn't draw women.

What a darn shame he didn't have access to modern sex-pherome sprays. Oh, wait a minute, you're talking about art.

 

[placeholder]

damn i forgot to get in my mention of the Madonna with the big boobies...was the picture shown at any stage? i was only a little 'un so i don't remember.

and yes boobs are not symmetrical but then nothing on the body is, isn't it weird, we don't think so much about our faces being assymetrical and they're visible all of the time.

 

[Glamarama]

thanks for all the piccies, looks like an interesting place.

you know on iwantoneofthose.com you can get Jesus soap and a holy toast set

 

[OldTimeRadio]

we don't think so much about our faces being assymetrical and they're visible all of the time.

More than that, many of the most beautiful women in the history of the cinema have had quite asymetrical faces. Perfectly symetrical faces tend to produce a mask-like "beauty," at best.

 

[Richard_Cheese]

Isn't it common that when breast feeding that the "emptied" breast is smaller than the "full" one?
Maybe the '"full" one is the one exposed?

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Isn't it common that when breast feeding that the "emptied" breast is smaller than the "full" one?

That makes a great deal of sense.

However, many women who are no longer lactating, or who never have, or who have passed their child-bearing years also have asymetrical breasts.

 

[placeholder]

well mine are asymmetrical and i've not breast fed anyone sorry if that was overshare.
i'm quite disturbed by the idea of one breast being like a burst balloon after feeding the bairn and the other heaving with nutritious goodness. :shock:

why do i do this to myself?

 

[OldTimeRadio]

why do i do this to myself?

Well, for one thing to convict me of my spelling error, which I've just corrected in two posts above. Thank you.

 

[Yithian]

Today we visited the Christian Culture Museum in Utrecht. I couldn’t help noticing a few weird exhibits and hope you will be amused.

Sorry for the bad quality of some pictures. My camera batteries were almost gone and I couldn't afford to take many pictures to get it exactly right.

I always checked with my wife first and asked if she also saw some slight weirdness. So all exhibits below should have some Fortean merit:

Jesus Christ backpack. Imagine throwing the face of Our Lord on the floor of your local school. No further comment necessary:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/christ_backpack.jpg

Soap to wash away sins.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/sin_soap.jpg

A Clive Barker from the time of the reformation. Nice pope devil hybrid:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/pope_devil.jpg

Death shooting arrows at the onlooker. From a late medieval a Last Judgement scene:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/death_bow.jpg

A 10th century hammer that allegedly was used by St Martin to topple idols. The Latin text says something like : “How can they be of any value if they topple so easily …” (Too bad they didn’t leave a few pagan shrines intact!)

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/idol_hammer.jpg

A silver mini coffin. It was approximately 20 cm long:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/death_box.jpg

A sexually explicit Madonna. A bit too explicit for my taste:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/explicit_madonna.jpg

A relatively convincing Dracula and Child:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/dracula_nativity.jpg

Theologically correct but really weird. Maria visits Elisabeth and you can see the babies inside their wombs:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/maria_elisabeth.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/maria_elisbeth_womb.jpg

A convincing Martin Luther lookalike on a Catholic nativity scene. Later I saw a real picture of Luther in the same museum and the likeness is striking:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/luther_nativity.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/luther.jpg

A rather cool and modern looking Maria and Angel. Look at the looks in their eyes, there’s more than pure spirituality happening here:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/cool_annunciation.jpg


Note : All of this is not meant to be blasphemous. But some people take their faith to some weird extremes and I don't think it's bad to see some Fortean quality in that. I'm a practicing Catholic myself and just to put things straight I'll post an artwork from the same museum that I find genuinely moving:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/christ_on_cold_stone.jpg

Note: I hope the mods don't move this to the "religion and cults" of "fortean art" sections. Nobody ever reads those and all the work I've done will be for nothing ... :?

Are you able to recover these photographs and upload them directly here?

 

[Frideswide]

That's the same point I was going to make. This painting is but one of hundreds of "nursing Madonna and child" representations from the period. I confess that I never thought of them as "sexual" before....and still don't.

Virgo Lactans. There a whole section of Mariology about them.

@uair01 I too would love to see any pics you can find