Art review: Bathing scene from the Hausbuch von Schloss Wolfegg (c. 1480)

This article was originally a thread on social media, which is why it is formatted with lots of images and short responses.
The text is about the image below that paragraph.

Look at those filthy medieval people who never bathed or washed and who thought bathing was dangerous and bad. Look at them… er… having a massive bath, with food and music.

Illustration comes from the house-book of castle Wolfegg (c. 1480).

Don’t look too close, there’s nudity…

First some non-naughty details, because I’m a massive prude; Look at the draining thingy, that’s quite smart.
Was there really once a bath so big it had its own building in the garden or is the artist making it up?
I’m not sure what it’s function is, I don’t think it’s directly connected to the bath because if you used it to drain the bath the little box would overflow almost instantly and then turn the entire ground in front of it into mud.
So maybe it’s connected to a pipe for when you need to drink water, wash something, etc?
Either way, it’s awesome:

Chap is taking a break from falcon hunting, or is he just trying to look cool?. The lady is reading something, while some people think medieval people couldn’t read and women had no education, she’s just sitting there reading, how dare she 😉
If only we know what it said:

Is the monkey just playing with the dog or is it about to knock it out with the ball on a string?
Monkeys were very popular pets among the elite in Medieval Europe.
Poor animals;

The other dog is behaving, it looks tired, bored, stupid humans are too busy to play with him:

“heya babe, let’s walk through this lovely garden”. “Yeah sure but oi, watch those wandering hands you cheeky monkey.”.
Wonderful details of the clothing, so colourful, uncovered hair, body hugging fabric, wonderful:

Very impressive fountains, the dapper couple seems imprest as well, there is clearly a pressure system here, also no visible evidence of how the water gets to the fountain or bath, so there must be underground pipes bringing clean water from elsewhere to this garden:

The chap below looks bored, but hello, some lovely lady is about to join him… or as I’m imagining, she’s about to close the shutter so he’ll be locked outside.
Yes, my imagination is more mischievous than it is romantic:

Those jugs don’t look like something you use to carry water in to fill the bath with, they’re fancy, I reckon those are filled with delicious wine, mead or ale!
Probably kept in cold water to keep cool, just like we still do today.
And look at the slippers or pattens, kicked off by one of the bathers:

The musician looks so unhappy.
Must be a terrible gig, just sitting there playing, probably for hours, while the fancy folk just sit and soak, flirt, eat and drink:

What do you think we see on this table?
Something to drink and a plate full of some sort of berries, maybe strawberries?
Are they perhaps glowing coals or does it just look like that because the red colours have faded & spread a little?

OH ALL RIGHT THEN, I’ll mention the nude bit as well, you naughty bunch.
Yes, it really does look like the bath takes up the whole room, like a gazebo with a jacuzzi. What a way to spend a day!
Dave kept his hat on, what a weirdo:

Oh look, someone else is getting in.
Is it me or is that really just Dave with 3 women in the bath now? Goodness me:

Yes, a LOT of things got a LOT better between the middle ages and today but… well I reckon this medieval bath house beats the modern alternative 😉

If you like review threads like these, check out this page, there are links to other reviews I tweeted about art, film, tv, games, etc.


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