Stunning stained glass window from St Mary’s Church in Fairford, England (about 1500). Swipe to the end for a wickedly menacing image of Satan. #medievalart #stainedglass #medievalstainedglass #lastjudgment #lastjudgement #heaven #hell #devil #satan #christianart #rainbow #archaeology #historyphotographed #igart #igreligion #religious

Xochipilli — meaning the Flower Prince — was the Aztec deity of the arts (including music and dance), games, beauty, and the patron of queer men and male sex workers. This statue of the god from about 1550 CE was found on the slope of the volcano Popocatépetl near Tlalmanalco, Mexico. Looking heavenward in a trance-like state, Xochipilli sits on a based carved with psychotropic plants. #xochipilli #aztecart #aztecdeity #queeraztec #pridemonth #pride #queermedieval #queermiddleages #globalmedieval #globalmiddleages

The angel ceiling of St Wendreda's church in March, Cambridgeshire, late 1400s or early 1500s. 😇 Wendreda is thought to have founded and led a nunnery at March. For around 300 years, her relics (credited with the conversion to Christianity of King Canute) were kept at Ely Cathedral but were returned to March in the mid-fourteenth century. Pilgrims subsequently flocked to pray at her shrine. The church prospered and was rebuilt. The magnificent hammerbeam roof above the nave is adorned with 120 carved wooden figures of angels and saints. The quality of the sculpture is remarkable, as is the ceiling's survival of iconoclastic episodes during the Reformation and the Civil Wars. #saintwendreda #angels #sculpture #woodcarving #churcharchitecture #medievalchurch #middleages #medieval #medievalart #historyphotographed

Happy Father’s Day to all earthly fathers 💗✨ Joseph (detail) from the Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece), workshop of Robert Campin, ca. 1427–32. @metcloisters @metmuseum #fathersday #saintjoseph #happyfathersday #medievalart #mittelalter #moyenage #mediowvo #edadmedia #robertcampin #merodealtarpiece

This Maya painting from the caves of Naj Tunich (Petén, Guatemala) shows two men embracing (about 600-900 CE). The figure with the erect penis may represent the god Chin, a deity who has sex with other men. Photo: @ meritnit #mayaart #mayan #queermedieval #queermiddleages #globalmedieval #globalmiddleages #queerguatemala #guatemala #najtunich #caveart #rockart #lgbtq #pride #pridemonth

Rock carvings of ancestors, Taíno (Chican Ostinoid), Puerto Rico, about 1200-1500 CE. @smithsoniannmai #taino #chicanostinoid #caribbean #ancestors #rockart #petroglyph #petroglyphs #medievalart #globalmedieval #globalmiddleages

A monk ready to gamble 😎 Chess Puzzle Book (Schachzabelbuch), Switzerland, 1350-1400. #😎 #medievalart #medievalgambling #medievalmonk #🎲

Sexual acts in the Moche and Chimu civilizations are vividly presented through a range of ceramic vessels (about 100-700 and 1000-1400 CE). Here a kneeling individual of uncertain gender performs fellatio (oral sex) on a standing figure, and on the other a male engages in anal sex with another male. Both acts are often interpreted as examples of homosexuality in the precolonial Andes. This stirrup-handle vessel may have communicated a message of fertility, as semen, water, and corn beer made with saliva represent renewed life. Many scholars who have written about these works seek answers to why vaginal sex wasn’t more frequently represented. In these instances, penetrative sex was varied and bodies were at times gendered male, female, or intersex based both on anatomy and on dress, hairstyle, jewelry, and more. Such acts of copulation need not be considered normative for the culture or time period nor the starting point for research. Engaging with the past requires us to set aside ideas or biases about what may have been considered normative for a specific time and place. 🍆🍑 Stirrup-spout ceramics of individuals engaged in sexual acts. Left: Moche, 100-700 CE (Lima, Larco Museum); right: Chimú, 1000–1400 (Madrid, Museo de América) #mocheceramics #mochepottery #mocheculture #pridemonth #chimu #chimuculture #andeanart #arthistory #pride #queermedieval #queermiddleages #globalmedieval #globalmiddleages #igart #archaeology

Reliquary purse, about 990-1000 CE. Troyes, Cathedral treasury #relic #relics #reliquary #purse #medivalart #embroidery #silk #igfashion #igart #archaeology #igarchaeology #treasure

The Sainte-Chapelle in Paris has been described as a 'community of martyrs' for the prodigious collection of relics housed there during the Middle Ages. Foremost among these precious objects were the relics of Christ's Passion – including the Holy Lance, sponge, and parts of the True Cross in addition to the Crown of Thorns – which Louis IX, the King of France, had acquired in 1238. In St Louis's own day, the Archbishop of Sens, Gauthier Cornut, wrote that the relics were waiting in Paris for Christ's Second Coming when he would put the Crown of Thorns on once again 'as a sign to all that are being judged.'�⁠⠀ #saintechapelle #stechapelle #paris #medievalparis #visitparis #martyrs #martyr #relic #relics #catholic #christianity #middleages #crownofthorns #louisix #saintlouis #stlouis #thirteenthcentury #medievalart #gothic #gothicart #medievalhistory #history #art #architecture #gothicarchitecture #medievalworld #middleages #moyenage #mittelalter⁠⠀ Photo: #repost @lunacy_pics

The Mexica temascal is a type of sweat lodge. Accounts by Spanish colonizers describe sexual activities taking place there between members of all genders in heterosexual, bisexual, and other queer couplings. This depiction comes from the mid-1500s Codex Magliabechiano (facsimile edition), made on European paper with Spanish and Nahua texts. #temascal #aztec #mexica #queeraztec #lgbtqaztec #aztecart #azteccodex #pride #pridemonth #lgbtq #bisexual #gay #queermedieval #queermiddleages #globalmedieval #globalmiddleages

Manuscript illuminators layered paint to create flesh tones. A closer look at several miniatures reveals that the complexion of the African magus could range from black, brown, gray, or blue with white or reddish pink highlights. I first noticed these variations in 2012 after reading a blog post on Adoration of the Magi scenes by curator Esther Schreuder. Most of the personal observations that follow didn’t make it into “Balthazar: A Black African King in Medieval and Renaissance Art,” so I’m glad to share them here. — by @brykeene shared on @balthazar_theblackmagus Swipe for individual details (all from @gettymuseum unless noted). 🟤 Images 2-3 show brown base layers with various highlights. [2. Neapolitan book of hours, 1460, with the African magus wearing a Mamluk turban; 3. Flemish Crohin-LaFontaine Hours, ,1480] ⚪️🟤 4 was originally painted in the 1190s with pinkish-white tones, still seen in the hand, but by the 1480s, the youngest magus’s face was tinted brown in three miniatures [Vita Christi, East Anglia] 🟤⚫️🔴 5 casts the ruler with layers of dark brown paint and black-gray hatching, highlights, and pinkish-red details [Georges Trubert, book of hours, c1480s] 🔵 6 blue base layers and gray details [Flemish, 1490s, @thisisthehague] 🔵⚫️ 7 Blue-gray hues make up his face and hands [Poncher Hours, c1500] 🟤⚫️ 8-10 features various strategies for layering shades of brown and black with pink/red highlights [8 Spinola Hours, c1510; 9 Brandenburg Hours, c1525-30; 10 French hours, 1544] #balthazarla #adorationofthemagi #blackmagus #africanking #manuscriptpainting #illuminatedmanuscript