Ah, the Renaissance: a rebirth of the classics, major developments in the arts and sciences, and an era of some very ugly babies. Paintings of the Holy Family and other Christian notables populated the time period, producing some strange and nearly disfigured representations of the infant Jesus — and one couple has devoted an entire Tumblr to them. Madonna and Child iconography takes a twisted turn when the little one looks more like a creepy, old man or a misshapen sack of flesh with a curly wig. Click past the break for a peek at some ugly Renaissance babies, see which ones we added to the list, and share yours below.
[Spotted via @matthiasrascher]
And here are just a few contributions from us. We didn’t want to steal all the hideous rollie-pollies from you.
Joos van Cleve, The Holy Family
Paolo Veronese, The Holy Family
Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child