Quote:
Originally Posted by julianh72
What you need to remember is that the artist is not painting something that he / she (usually "he" in medieval times!) saw with their own eyes -
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That's a good point.
It's worth remembering that until well into the 1700s, the Aristotalean geocentric model of the universe was not only the accepted model, but was also insisted upon by the church and enforced through the inquisition.
Since most religious art was sponsored or commissioned by or for the church, it is highly unlikely that artists in the Middle Ages would have insinuated into their renderings of specific religious/biblical themes and events some contemporary experience with UFOs. To have actively suggested that the universe (as composed of the moon, planets and stars) was not fixed and unchangeable would have been the wildest heresy and have led to the torch (as Fra Bruno and some others discovered) or other sanctions (as Gallileo discovered).
The Aristotalean view of the Universe was rigidly insisted upon and enforced by the church well after Copernicus had debunked it and that lasted until well into Newton's lifetime if not beyond. The so-called scientific revolution is said to have been marked by Copernicus and Newton at either end (1550 - 1700). It's somewhat paradoxical that during much of this time, the whole of Europe was embroiled in religious wars. For example, the 30-years War 1618-1648 waged by the Holy Roman Empire engaged the whole of Western Europe in the Catholic vs Protestant struggle) and during those times, it just didn't pay to be seen to harbour views that might be seen as heretical. And yet, this was the age of Copernicus, Kepler, Brahe, Gallileo, Newton and others who were the catalysts for the demise of Aristotle and Ptolemy and the geocentric universe.
And none of these has ever suggested - however obliquely - that there had been any visits from outer space or sightings of alien craft in the heavens. Apart from reports of the Great Comet of 1577, there are no books, pamphlets, essays or the like suggesting any alien sightings or visitations.
The absence from the scientific literature of that era of reports of flying craft in the skies is, I think, highly significant and makes the suggestion that works of art produced during the same time should be read as showing contemporary encounters seem extremely shallow.
Peter