Wow what a way to depict them! Also, “cephalophoric” sounds like the saints are part octopus 😅
The cephalophoric saints Felix, Regula and Exuperantius (patron saints of Zurich), holding their attributes, their severed heads, before Christ, 1506, Zürcher Veilchenmeister. (Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum, Zürich)
The idea behind such a depiction is that those saints were killed when their heads were cut off. So it was decided that they would be honoured to be traditionally presented like that in painting. There are no less than 134 such saints.
I have a theory that initially a lot of these works were made for a laugh, like an old timey joke picture, and over time people kept adding meaning to them.
Like someone makes a rude and crude painting of a giant cock with eyes, makes people laugh, and a few thousand years later some bloke in a trilby goes “hmm, yes, it seems these people worshipped a penis god at this point in time. Also it clearly reads a prophecy, ‘deez nuts’. Fascinating.”
What the hell was the original context for this painting? 😆
that’s Byzantine artwork for ya! here’s a post from an art history community that discusses the painting. quite interesting! https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtHistory/comments/e1h0sy/jesus_and_felix_regula_exuperantius_1506/
Wow what a way to depict them! Also, “cephalophoric” sounds like the saints are part octopus 😅
It’s an illuminated manuscript depicting Saint Denis and Saint Piatus, said to have been decapitated for their beliefs.
Statue of St Denis
Edit: comes from this book: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livre_d'images_de_madame_Marie
No evil like christian holyness or something.
Maybe they’re martyrs? Sometimes they’re depicted as walking around with their fatal injuries.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Altartafel_Kapelle_Spannweid_Zürich_Stadtheilige.jpg
They are actually comparing their new hairdo.
My thoughts exactly. All I can think of is that religious devotion requires giving away your brain??? It really is a bizarre illustration
I have a theory that initially a lot of these works were made for a laugh, like an old timey joke picture, and over time people kept adding meaning to them.
Like someone makes a rude and crude painting of a giant cock with eyes, makes people laugh, and a few thousand years later some bloke in a trilby goes “hmm, yes, it seems these people worshipped a penis god at this point in time. Also it clearly reads a prophecy, ‘deez nuts’. Fascinating.”
“Deez”, likely a derivative of Latin “Deus”. They were clearly a god fearing people!