Has this artist ever seen a baby?
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- Опубліковано 25 лип 2022
- In which John and Sarah spend five hours at the louvre museum in Paris seeking to answer the most important question in art history: have these artists ever seen a human baby?
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This video was inspired by a brilliant tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@anan0tanna/video/7048950728416709935 (I know other people have played Has This Artist Ever Seen a Baby Before, but this particular tiktok was my inspiration!) -John
Hi John! Thank you so much for watching and liking my video enough to keep up the “has this artist seen a baby” energy.
I do dig how she rated them. Or perhaps better said, she *reviewed* them on a star scale. :)
@@historiana781 I feel like my life is better for having watched your video now
Well I must have been way ahead of the curve when I visited Avignon nearly 20 years ago. The Palace of the Popes had a 50 picture exhibit featuring Madonna and Child pieces. And yes, many of the babies looked like middle aged men 😆 And of course I asked: have any of these guys ever seen a baby OR a naked woman?
I have seen lots of babies. They come in many flavors: skinny, CHONK, stretchy, fetal, passive, CHAOS, dark, pale, squishy, solid... Let's just say that they have seen a baby, but all babies are unique and need snuggles. #DFTBA going to snuggle my kids every day, even when they are embarrassed by it.
i’d love to see two works by the same artist with baby improvement so as to give the commentary: “you can pinpoint with some accuracy the point at which this artist met a baby”
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😂 you've given me a new thing to look for at museums
wahahahaha +++
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Thing is, Michael Cera could actually be 400 years old and STILL look just like that
He truly is timeless.
That was *clearly* Millie Bobby Brown
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He also may have accidentally wandered into the 17th century the way he accidentally stars in movies without realizing he's even acting.
Omg! My friends and I went to the Louvre in June, and we also played "does this artist even know what a baby looks like?"! It was so fun! We also laughed for like 10 minutes over the statue holding guy
I didn't even know that this is a thing people do. 😅🤣🤣🤣
Oddly enough, that guy looks like he should be holding a baby, and in no way looks like he is trying to hold *that* statue, and I think the artist was just like "Imma be real, I do not know how to draw a baby, here's a nekkid lady statue instead...I spent a lotta time doing those in school."
@@politereminder6284 You can do the same with animals! Has this artist ever seen a cat?
@@jama211 Or horses!
@@jama211 that reminds me of that one painting in where artist was like, “I’m sure a cat is just a small dog with human facial feature.”
It doesn't matter how fairly commonplace it is to see Sarah in videos these days, my brain will always be like "the yeti?!" every time. I hope this never changes.
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Went straight to the comments to say exactly that :D
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I'll be real. I forgot about the yeti joke, and I am thrilled to be reminded.
Can someone explain this yeti joke
“i don’t know if this is a good painting but after all this religious iconography and mythology it was just nice to see a 400 year old Michael Cera cradling a statue”
He's aged really well!! 💖
@@The_Nascence_of_Nichole hi nichole! 🥰
@@dftbarachel HI hunny!! Foundja 😍💖
I loved that part🤣
Do you know what that painting is called?
I made myself laugh at the end because i thought you were going to say "the artist had not only seen a baby but was one" as if the answer to all these bad baby paintings was that no artists had ever once been babies they were all Benjamin Buttons
Same!!!
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Same, but my prediction was that he was going to say the artist had not only seen a baby, but actually loved one. The contrast between loved and held was enough for me!
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i'm absolutely loving the most recent "just for fun" videos! reminds me of old school vlogbrothers :)
Giraffe
Is your name a reverse psychology thing or what? Now I really want to check out your channel...
@@RialVestro it's kind of a practical joke where both sides have to participate for it to work
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I can assure you, very few painters have seen a horse and its the best thing ever
I think some of these artists have just seen SUPER ugly babies and decided to take that and roll further with it than they should've done.
I love that one where the baby has the exact same side-eye look as the woman holding them
In defense of the artists, perrspective, proportion and foreshortening we're still in their "infancy."
@@jamesclapp6832 I groaned and smiled at this comment. Well played.
They were also gullible enough to believe the new parents who told them that their baby was cuter than any other. Working backwards from below-average is a great way to reach goblin-tier.
Plausible!
I feel like... that's it. I've seen the Louvre. Got the Mona Lisa in there for approximately the time you'll get to see the Mona Lisa at approximately the size of the Mona Lisa, got a tour of all the VERY interesting babies. Like, what more is there? Boom, case closed. John Green, bringing you to the Louvre OUT OF HIS OWN POCKET.
Still worth an IRL visit if you ever get the chance! If only for the Jacques Louis David paintings and Liberty Leading the People! -John
Honestly, the Egyptian artrfacts are to die for... I was in there so long they almost locked me in
@@OneRandomLeo Locked in with some ancient, possibly cursed Egyptian artifacts sounds like it would have been interesting.
@@OneRandomLeo The dream for everyone reading The Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler
@@OneRandomLeo But have you been to The British Museum?
I am glad that John and I both recognize a 400 year old painting of Michael Cera when we see one
Came to the comments to see if this was here already, cuz same
I'd like to note, some of these examples appear to fit more into the category of "had never seen a baby above the neck". We all get the reasoning behind the old-man faces, but their heads should still be shaped like human heads, right?
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Your intrepid spouse has the capabilities of raising the eyebrow dramatically, that is a good ability, keep it up
when the rock is sus
>keep it up
what? the eyebrow? please give her a break. we don't want her to have facial cramp!
Spock levels of dramatic eyebrow arching
I often think about how the statues were painted and when people found out, they said they would have looked really gawdy with intense colours and stuff... But the technology probably is just picking up the basecoat and stuff and there would have been so much more detail added on top.
Maybe but I would 100% believe the Greeks and Roman's were just gaudy AF. Subtlety is not their strongest trait.
Oh that's a good theory. I want to believe you're right. Otherwise -- how can you carve something so intricate then just slap some blocks of color on it and call it a day?
So basically, ancient statues were just giant Warhammer models.
I think the same. If you look at mosaics from the same time, you see subtlety and shading. It's not like they didn't understand color theory
I recommend looking at the fayum portraits to see just how lifelike some ancient art was! There was the little speculative story I read about a party in ancient rome only lit by candles and oil lamps and being wine drunk when you see a painted statue and mistake it for a serving boy. That idea just haunts me.
Greek statues having once been painted really blew my mind -- what is, is not necessarily, and may not always have been
…much like babies 👶
It really is hard to imagine iconic pieces like the venus de milo in color
You might also be interested to know that many statues that are missing arms actually originally had bronze arms that rusted and fell off over time
Imagine how bizarre it would look if they painted parts of government buildings in Washington, DC, to "look more accurately" neoclassical. I think we would *all* hate it.
Did you maybe mean to write: "what is is not necessarily, and may not always have been, what was."?
Artemisia Gentileschi has some of the best paintings of babies from her time period because she actually had kids and was the main caretaker, plenty of time for observation.
I feel this comment needs more thumbs up, so here's another thumbs-up! 👍
Gentileschi, a rare example of an artist who actually knew what she was painting about.
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There is an anime called Arte loosely based on her life!
😂I remember having a similar discussion in a Western Literature class, and the resounding question was "did the artists just never leave their studios or have children of their own?" And the resounding conclusion was a class-wide shrug and a "Maybe not."
"He's just seen adults and imagined they were once smaller" is my favorite quote of the week. I realize it's only Tuesday but I'm confident nothing will top this.
played this exact game at the louvre in May and again at the philadelphia museum of art last friday - the best ones are northern renaissance (Netherlands, Belgium, Germany etc. during late 15th century to the 16th century) because they have not seen babies, birds, or people with emotions
Never been to the Louvre but I understand that they should just officially change the name of the Mona Lisa room to "The People-Waiting-to-See-the-Mona-Lisa Room", since that's the real point. Good on you for shrugging it off publicly.
My college art professor told us that if we ever go to the Louvre we should just skip the Mona Lisa and look at a reproduction in the gift shop as we'd get a better look.
Last time I went to the Mona Lisa room it was not to see the Mona Lisa but to see The Wedding at Cana which is across from it.... and it was being restored 😭
"WHERE'S THE BIG MONA LISA HUNG?" -An American, probably
I remember hurrying to get ahead of a bunch of teenagers (it was European spring break apparently) and we wanted to get ahead of the to see the winged Victory. Meanwhile they had no interest in the statue. Probably on their way to see the Mona Lisa 😆
It's so strange how THAT painting became so iconic that it needs barriers and darkened glass to protect it from hoards of people who come for a faraway glimpse of it. I mean, it's a nice painting, but there are plenty of other ones in the Louvre alone that are also quite nice. It's also kind of a shame that you can't really get a pleasant, organic viewing experience of that particular nice painting now.
Such an insightful video. Thank you John and Sarah! I am beginning to wonder if any of us have ever truly seen a baby.
As the father of a currently 6 week old, it seems like of late I have seen nothing but baby
its a well known fact that babies go invisible when someone tries to look at them, therefore no one has seen a baby
@@benhansberry But you have to test whether you have actually seen a baby by making a Baroque painting of a baby.
If people judged me by my baby drawing skills I would not only appear as if I had never seen a baby, but would look as though I had never even had one described to me.
As a person with an art degree, this video is EVERYTHING. I now have a new favorite game to play while exploring an art museum.
this is also just a huge reminder of how many people who were capable of pregnancy do not have paintings in the louvre
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maybe it's more people who had given birth not getting their art into the Louvre? You can be capable of pregnancy and never do it (hopefully that'll be me) or you could be incapable of pregnancy and see babies all the time and draw a million babies in your lifetime, or you could have once been capable of pregnancy, then stopped being capable of it, and then painted a bunch of babies and still not have your art recognised or appreciated
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Yes!
This made me laugh so much! I feel like some of those artists not only haven’t seen a baby, but also they’re terrified by what they have heard about the babies they have not seen
This is so funny haha
oh this is gonna be good
Some babies look like babies the way Lacroix tastes like fruit.
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Favorite Louvre memory: Getting Vaguely lost on the 3rd level going through relatively tiny room after tiny room until I stumbled upon that Joseph Ducreux painting everyone knows from everywhere and thinking "Well I may be lost, but I'm exactly where I want to be"
absolute gold!
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If there's anywhere you could get lost, I think The Louvre isn't a bad option.
A friend of mine did her PhD on the subject of how to present unknowns to the public in terms of archaeology. Like, we know this was painted, but we don't know how it was painted. Any repainting we might do is a guess (and is interfering with archaeology), but leaving it unpainted presents a false idea to the public. (Though she was focused more on tumble-down German castles.)
Basically, she was studying what kind of reconstructions and guides most clearly explain to the public what's known and what's educated guesswork. (We are pretty certain that there was a window here, though we can't be sure, and we have no idea what shape it was.)
Fascinating stuff. Her PhD defense was online, and I got to watch it.
That sounds like incredibly interesting work!
Not having a PhD in this, but I think with things that have a "manageable" size like statues, it would make sense to make replicas and paint them as close to what we think it looked like as possible and to display both versions next to each other.
This is way harder when it comes to things like castles, though. We can't copy them. Not just because it's super expensive, but also because the mountain they sit on is part of the castles and copying a mountain would be a little bit excessive.
@@melonlord1414 One idea is perspex screens you can look through which overlay a sketch on the ruins, or VR technology.
@@flowerheit4512 Here's her TEDx talk: ua-cam.com/video/zclubTunwd0/v-deo.html.
@@qwertyTRiG Augmented Reality would be cool
So happy to see you enjoying my city, Sarah and John! Have a great stay in Paris and for the authentic French experience, be sure to get stuck in a crowded metro! Signed, a frustrated Parisian stuck on commute, who's nonetheless grateful the new vlogbrothers vid dropped right now.
If it makes you feel any better, we New Yorkers get stuck on crowded metros all the time too! 🙂 somehow I'd rather be stuck on a Parisian metro... probably because then I would be on holiday in Paris! 😁 ❤️
Ok I now know what I’m gonna do next time I’m in a museum with someone 😂
Same!!
Definitely a top candidate of things to occupy Nerdfighter Travelers!
Exactly the vintage Vlogbrothers vibe we need in this, the trashfire year of our Lord 2022
The amount of joy I had when John said Michael Cera because I was really hoping I wasn’t the ONLY one.
this made me laugh out loud many times. thank you, john.
1:33 he’s ready to be folded into the King Cake
I don’t know why, but the expression on the face of the guy holding the statue is very relatable 😂
This video made me laugh out loud more than once. John, you are a frickin DELIGHT.
"he's just seen adults and imagined they were once much smaller"
I’m in the NICU with my newborn baby and feeling very emotionally raw and scared. I watched this video when they took her to run tests in the lab. It’s the first minute I’ve been alone and had any space to myself. I needed a minute to giggle about the homunculus and about weird art. Thanks for being with me tonight. It’s like having a friend to distract me in the room.
I hope you and baby are well and do great :)
A super rare sighting of the Yeti? French the Llama!!!
Oh my goodness yeeees. My wife and I love to play this game with medieval painters. 😂 Also tons of fun is, “has this person ever seen a cat?”
I really wish I could comment with a picture of a cat I took at the Rijksmuseum 2 weeks ago
as someone who's "never" seen a baby, I would've loved an explanation why some of these where wrong. Some are obvious, but some look like babies to me?
Proportions are off - adult muscles that shouldn't exist - too much teeth in the mouth for the very young - wrong expression and poses in general - adults holding the baby off the center of balance - lack of baby flexibility... there is a lot
Indeed that's why when i saw photoshopped magazines I often thought this person has never seen a person.
Based on my drawing skills, I have never seen a baby
Paris is such a good time. I was worried I'd get Paris Syndrome when we visited but we ended up walking for around 16 hours across two days trying to see everything. It felt like every centimeter of my leg bones had fractured by the end.
We got on a cruise shortly thereafter and just laid on the bed gently touching our legs and hoping it would stop hurting. It took...a while.
The image evoked by "gently touching our legs" was so specific and so precisely what I do after way too much walking. It's a pain that demands to be felt, like maybe provoking the ache a little will heal it faster and you can't just NOT touch the sore muscles while you wait.
This video feels like a beautiful combo of learning things and being silly and it made me so happy. Thank you for continuing to remember to be awesome.
Just as Hank walked us through weird zillow houses, I will need more REAL stories from museums. I would pay for this audio walking tour of the Louvre. No shade to the "real" tour guide who walked us through, but this actually kept my attention. Happy to see other variations like "Has this artist ever seen a" dog/horse/human/shoe, etc. Please and thank you.
the last picture gives me pure bliss
They've never probably seen a woman either, let's be honest
John, this is probably one of my favorite videos you've made. Very fun and creative.
Thank you for making what is now one of my favourite video on the internet. This has brought me such joy!
I do love some good classical art humor. I knew my husband was the right one for me when we were solemnly touring the classical sculpture exhibit at the Getty Museum in LA and my husband dryly remarked, “raise your hand if you’re a bronze naked lady.” I cracked up when I noticed that pretty much all of the bronze naked lady statues had at least one arm up. 😂
My husband and I couldn’t stop laughing. Great way to start the morning! Thank you for this
So many gems. Loved the context clues.
Hope you enjoyed the Louvre!!
We used to play this is my college Art History class!
That's hilarious
I never new until now how much I needed to see John at the Louvre playing has this artist ever seen a baby.
This was such a great reminder that there are so many ways to enjoy art.
"400 year old Michael Cera" made me chuckle.
take a shot every time john says 'baby'
This video has absolutely brightened my day! I'm so grateful for these little pockets of laughter and light - thank you for this John!
Thank you for this video! You're the most awesome tour guide ever. This video gave me so much joy and I was honestly laughing all the way through it.
Can't even begin to explain how much I enjoyed this video! My two favorite things: babies, and John Green reviewing things!
“Babies are just tiny drunk adults” -all these artists
tbh children were viewed as immoral, irrational, ill-tempered adults and not objects of parental adoration until the mid to late 1800s.
John. This video is so good. Brought joy, thoughtful. Thank you for giving it to us this week!
This was a FASCINATING video John! Loved it!
I see from your pinned comment that others have done this but this is my first exposure to the idea and WOW I LOVE IT.
The comparison with the rhinoceros one too omfg
This is undeniably the best video in the history of videos. Looking at paintings will never be the same again.
Amazing video, please do more like it. The energy, the humor, too good!
Well, this was a delightfully fun video. Thanks John!
I've always been much more Hank-like in my strong preference for math and science over the arts and could only admire you and Sarah for being so artistic. Given that, I'm pleasantly surprised to see you two appreciating art in the kind of way I might rather than taking it overly seriously. Good to know artsy people can have fun with it too :D
You can be artsy fartsy or farsty on the artsy, art is for everyone 👍
Absolutely. I finally get art.
I love this video! You should do another one, since you’re doing the museum thing, on paintings of saints being tortured to death but not appearing to notice anything unusual going on.
This is one of the most amazing videos I've ever watched! Thank you!
as an oil painter this made me laugh so much, I needed it, thank you💖
I also love playing this game!! My current favourite weird baby/cherub are ones decorated on a building in my neighbourhood. They look like they are under immense distress trying to keep the windows from falling off the building. Amazing!
This video was so entertaining; I can't believe you fit so much fun in less than 4 minutes
You've forever changed how my significant other and I will interact with and appreciate the art museum experience.
I feel like this video can be considered under the educational category and therefore exceed the 4 minute imposed video length. Which would conveniently give me more louvre art to look at, and we all need more art in our lives.
I laughed throughout the whole video. Thank you so much 😀🖤
One of my faves! A very fun episode!
One of the funniest things I've seen in a while. Thanks so much for this!
"...and has seen a baby more recently than he has seen a human woman" 🤣🤣🤣
I laughed so hard. I am embarrassing myself at work with my stifled laughter and tears.
One of my family’s favourite topics! Thanks for this post.
This one one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Thank you.
I'll take exception to the idea that Neoclassical architecture isn't neoclassical. If anything it is exceptionally NEO-classical specifically because it ISN'T classical. That's what makes it neo and what makes it unique and enjoyable for entirely different reasons. The exposed marble has always been a testament to how far society has come since the dark ages, to me. When I went to DC for the first time I, several times, made the comment to my partner that it's amazing how much marble and artists to carve it our society was able to produce and/or acquire for a seemingly inconsequential purpose. The fact that it remains unpainted draws attention to the material, not the design, and allows it to serve as a testament to post-capitalism and the world we might one day inhabit.
I was thinking along the same lines and came to the comments to make a similar observation. It's exactly the sterility of the unadorned materials that make it NEOclassical.
This seems like a fun game for any of the old art museums.. Loved mentioning the animal thing, could play that game too, "Has the artist ever seen the animal it has painted". It seems like that rhinoceros guy was given a brilliant overall description of the body shape but then when it came to the skin he was like uhhhh idk kind of like a fish but kind of like a reptile, but also kind of like leather but overall like an armadillo.
The description he was given said it had armored skin, so he drew literal armor. What else can you do?
I love that the final painting is my favorite painting I saw at the Louvre🥺
One of my new favorite vlog brother episodes!
I was at the Met Cloisters with my partners on Saturday, and we played this precise game, which has been a favorite of mine for many years! (Spoiler: Very few medieval artists had seen babies, but those who had seen them had REALLY seen them.)
I think about that Neoclassical thing all of the time. Like, in an attempt to emulate this very specific style, a completely different thing ended up being created.
This was a WONDERFUL diversion and an emotional ride: from humor to horror to thought provoking to laughing out loud. Thank you John (and Sarah)
This is maybe my favourite vlogbrothers video ever (or certainly the one I've enjoyed the most). Something about an Art History degree I can't really use in my current job and a desperate pandemic-era desire to once again travel overseas and go museum-hopping.
Sarah and John and travel and art? Yes please!!
Imagine them setting up a tour. They could travel free by getting a flock of groupies together to go with.
I have this similar game with my best friend caled What is Mary thinking?
We send eachother paintings of Mary we come across (we're both catholic so it's not all that dificult;) and the other tries to figure out what Mary is thinking at the moment. There's alot of eye-rolling, to tell the true, so she's mostly bored or anoyed
I love getting these videos, which are more slice of life rather than educational, because while I dearly love the educational content, these are very entertaining, and I had to be careful not to giggle in public while viewing it. Which is my favorite kind of Vlogbrothers video, regardless of the subject. :)
Instantly one of my all time favorite Vlogbrothers videos
"I don't know if this is a good painting" - it made you feel something, so it is a very good painting in my book. Thanks for letting us tag along on your visit!
I feel like most of these ppl either had really bad first encounters with babies, or just had nightmares about them, and refused to get closer in the future even for research purposes... "Nah, I'm good, I got it, KEEP THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!!!" 😂🤣
love this old school style of vid so much
This was absolutely delightful on this mundane Tuesday morning.