The Demon Doodles of 1565

[Music] paris 1565 on the bustling streets of the french capital a strange new book has everybody talking whilst it looks unassuming from the outside on the inside it's full of bizarre and fantastical creatures many of these monsters are comical striking absurd and amusing poses others are a little more disturbing with unnerving expressions and emotionless hollow faces curiously there are no words to accompany these drawings it's simply a collection of 120 unique monsters 500 years later this obscure book is one of the oddest things i've ever come across it's difficult to make sense of especially as almost nothing is known about the book's origin although i have my own ideas beneath these whimsical sketches lie hidden messages that poke fun at the powers that be welcome to strange christian art this episode the demon doodles of 1565. [Music] the actual name of this book is the dralatic dreams of pantagrawel it's not the most catchy of titles i have to admit but it's fun to say drolatic is another word for amusing or funny so the book kind of means the amusing dreams of pantagrawl pantagrowal is the name of a giant and the main character of a popular 16th century book called the horrible and terrifying deeds and words of the very renowned pantagrawel king of dyspodes son of the great giant gargantuar or for short pentagramel it's the first book in a series of five they tell the story of two giants and their comical misadventures so going back to our demon doodles these amusing sketches illustrate pantagrawel's dreams by the look of things his dreams were very very vivid we have an elephant holding a weathervane a bagpipe playing itself a demonic backpack and of course a musical turnip this is what happens when you eat cheese before bed also i'm told some of these doodles remind me of the paintings of hieronymus bosch one of my favorite artists who created these disturbing hellscapes full of grotesque monsters his creations were in turn based on medieval art and the various creatures found in the margins of manuscripts these illustrated borders are known as drolleries which is probably why our book has the word dramatic in the title whoever our demon doodler was they were clearly inspired by the fantastical art of the time as these drawings were based on a comedy book series i suspect that each one of these sketches contains a hidden joke as there's no text each one of these bizarre images is a puzzle a puzzle that can be solved so let's try to figure out the meaning behind some of them [Music] one of the first things i noticed when looking through this book is that many of these creatures have fancy outfits from the one dressed in a scholar's uniform to lavish suits of armor and the one who looks a bit like gandalf but my eye was drawn to this one in particular a goblin in a dress the doodle reminds me of this painting the ugly duchess by quentin matzis painted around 1513 it's a rather unfortunate portrait of a woman i mean i guess the name of the painting explains all perhaps reassuringly this unflattering portrait was not of a real duchess instead it's believed to be a joke painting it makes fun of people who refuse to dress their age attempting to look young well into retirement maybe our goblin in a dress is making a similar joke inspired by the painting of the ugly duchess drawing a grotesque creature in an exquisite outfit is one way to make fun of the nobility there are plenty of doodles that seem to have a similar punchline this one features another demon in a dress behind her veil you can see her shrunken eyes and large hook-like nose poking out whoever our mysterious demon doodler was they seemed really interested in fashion and clothing this has led many to speculate that it was the french illustrator francois despres he had previously completed a clothing manual cataloging all the different kinds of unique outfits from around the world you can see that the layout and style is very similar to the dralatic dreams perhaps it was the same person it's difficult to tell was behind our drawings looking at the clothing might help us understand the meaning behind some of them for example this one although the first thing you'll notice is its eerily hollow face with an agonized expression aside from that detail it's dressed in a rather pleasant outfit kitted with a long flowing shoulder cape and down by its side there's a wide brimmed hat with the tassels tied around the body of the creature this demon is dressed as a member of the clergy with garments worn by catholic priests at the time from the same distinctive shoulder cape to the large hat if i add a little bit of colour to the drawing you might see the similarity more clearly in fact there are two other doodles just like this one with demons wearing priestly outfits both with those same wide looking hats as before another one is dressed up like a cardinal a high-ranking member of the church you can tell this again by the hat i like this one he appears to have forgotten something although you might overlook the fact that he's wielding a giant knife for some reason our illustrator dressed his demons as members of the catholic church this might make sense when he considered the historical context these pictures were made during a period known as the reformation when a growing number of christians started to protest against the catholic church these protestants were unhappy with the way things were being run and began to form churches of their own such religious disputes escalated into bloody conflicts especially in france which had collapsed in civil war three years prior violent clashes between catholic and protestant mobs were known to erupt on the streets of paris gruesome incidents like the saint bartholomew's day massacre of 1572 showed just how deadly these religious differences could end up being this dark backdrop shines some light on our drawings by the look of things these images were most likely intended for french protestants who felt aggrieved by the catholic church by dressing these demons as members of the clergy it secretly makes fun of them now i love a proverb and as part of my research i came across this old french saying the outfit doesn't make the monk it's normally meant to say that looks can be deceiving perhaps these doodles are trying to illustrate this idea literally we've seen so far that this curious book contains hidden jokes at the expense of the nobility and the religious divides of the day whilst i've tried to explain the meaning of some of them i'm at a loss to explain most of the others either way i thought i'd share some of my favorite doodles that this book has to offer like a bell stuck on a shrub a snail human with a human snail humpty dumpty with a hal bird a jester on stilts and finally a barrel with a knife these sketches are more light-hearted and don't seem to be politically charged i mean what could be the hidden messages behind this one are there any your guess is as good as mine the dralatic dreams of pentagrel or as i like to call them the demon doodles of 1565 is such a unique collection of drawings these 120 sketches are so fantastically bizarre and tap into the weird art of hieronymus bosch and the grotesque monsters from medieval manuscripts whoever the illustrator was they had a fantastic imagination and a sense of humor too some of these drawings make fun of the powers that be in a time of religious divide and political uncertainty perhaps a good way to cope with it all is to simply laugh in this way maybe these sketches are some of the very first political cartoons regardless of the meaning of these doodles or lack thereof it's fitting that they were supposed to be dreamt up by a maniacal giant they're indeed the stuff of fantasy strange beings that inhabit the realm of dreams or nightmares depending on your perspective [Music] hey thanks for watching i had great fun making this and i hope you enjoyed it too if you wanted to see the full 120 sketches head down to the description below if you like this video and want to see more why not subscribe a like and a comment also go a really long way anyway i look forward to seeing you next time goodbye

Channel: hochelaga

Views: 2,024,210

Keywords: The Drolatic Dreams of Pantagruel, Drolatic, Pantagruel, Gargantua and Pantagruel, Rabelais, demon doodles, Strange, Christian, Art, Reformation, Hieronymus Bosch, Grotesque, wierd, bizarre, doodles, creepy

Id: ejg8eA4yIG4

Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 20 2022