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Gargoyle and Grotesques of St. John’s Cathedral, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

Statues on a flying buttress of Saint John’s Cathedral, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. By Satrughna (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Technically, these little fellows are grotesques rather than true gargoyles, but who cares when they’re so charming? Apes, monkeys, and related creatures had rather poor connotations in the Middle Ages, symbolizing a variety of evils and sins including greed and lust, but this pair is depicted with a touching humanity nonetheless.

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The mission of A Scholarly Skater Art History is to make historical art and architecture accessible to everyone.
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