# Art Containing The Equivalent Of 'Plot Holes'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** arts-crafts\ **Created:** [April 7, 2022, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444 "2022-04-07T10:17:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/21 "2022-04-07T16:30:13Z")
Wonderful! I’d love to see that too. Maybe I’ll be able to track it down online. Then again, polydactly IS a thing! ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/22 "2022-04-07T16:51:29Z")
There appears to be an extra foot in this painting; _The Peasant Wedding_ by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. > **[The Peasant Wedding | Mystery of the "third foot"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peasant_Wedding#Mystery_of_the_%22third_foot%22)** > > Many viewers have wondered why Bruegel appears to have given a third foot to the red-clad servant on the right, carrying the tray. Bruegel’s son, Brueghel the Younger, thought that this foot was an error or, at best, too confusing for viewers. His 1620 copy of his father’s painting solves the problem simply by eliminating the third foot altogether. However, an analysis by Claudine Majzels of the angles and the relative positions of the people involved suggests that the red-clad servant’s “third f... ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/23 "2022-04-07T16:57:00Z")
Thank you. I am a huge Bruegel fan so I ought to have remembered this one! I remember reading about the extra foot decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/24 "2022-04-07T17:06:10Z")
Never explained: [Why Egyptians had one leg longer than the other](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/543879) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/25 "2022-04-07T18:27:25Z")
I assume there must be a number of paintings like this: [The 1821 Derby at Epsom - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_1821_Derby_at_Epsom#/media/File:Jean_Louis_Th%C3%A9odore_G%C3%A9ricault_001.jpg) by Géricault. Of course, at the time Géricault had no way of knowing that horses don’t run like that - easy mistake to make. I also have a nagging memory of a quite famous painting which includes a hunting dog with hooves - a less easy mistake to make - but either my google-fu is failing me or I’ve simply imagined it. j ETA - while I remember, @CalMeacham - that was great. ---
**Author:** ![gre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@gre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gre)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/26 "2022-04-08T00:49:10Z")
All of this talk of rainbows brings the moon to mind. When it is depicted in animation or comics (I dunno much about actual canvas paintings), it’s usually illuminated in some crazy way because the artist doesn’t know to think about where the sun must be at night relative to the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/27 "2022-04-08T01:21:40Z")
Wasn’t there at least one statue of George Washington in a toga? And the box of Mr. Bubble in David’s Death of Marat. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/28 "2022-04-08T01:34:53Z")
So I’ve seen a lot of biblical scenes featuring soldiers in medieval art where soldiers are dressed like medieval European soldiers, not ancient middle eastern ones. Of course there a good cultural reasons they are drawn that way, but it still weird. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/29 "2022-04-08T01:37:07Z")
[Washington Enthroned.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_(Greenough)) Unlike with [Irish chieftains,](https://www.cracked.com/article_29153_wanted-to-be-irish-royalty-all-you-needed-was-nipples.html) we Americans prefer our heads of state keep their nipples to themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/30 "2022-04-08T02:00:17Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > I also have a nagging memory of a quite famous **painting** which includes a hunting dog with hooves - Tapestry. " … and famously includes a dog with horse’s hooves instead of paws." > **[Victories tapestries, Blenheim Palace - Emma Telford | Textile Conservator](https://www.emmatelford.co.uk/2021/06/15/victories-tapestries-blenheim-palace/)** > > Conserving the Victories tapestries, of the Spanish Succession war at Blenheim palace, after three hundred years of continuous open display. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/31 "2022-04-08T04:39:17Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > What comes to mind is The Last Supper which is usually depicted with all of the apostles gathered on one side of a conventional western rectangular dining table, which looks like a workaround to make sure you can see all of them clearly. > > Upon further research, this does look like a plot hole, except in a different way. The consensus is that by the standard of eating at that time and place, they would have indeed all been on one side of the table - but they would have been sitting on the ground and/or pillows around the outside of an open “C”-shaped table rather than an elevated rectangular one. Here’s a more elementary plot hole: Jesus, et al. are always depicted as lillywhite Europeans. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/32 "2022-04-08T05:21:37Z")
David’s foreskin. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/33 "2022-04-08T12:00:17Z")
Thank you for contributing to the thread! ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/34 "2022-04-08T12:01:10Z")
Thank you for contributing to this thread! ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/35 "2022-04-08T12:03:41Z")
Ah, yes! The recasting of characters from the gospels as white European puzzled me even as a child when I was still indoctrinated. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/36 "2022-04-08T12:04:14Z")
Thank you for finding the hoofed dog! That’s tremendously helpful of you! ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/37 "2022-04-08T12:21:16Z")
Does this count? A Peruvian Last Supper with Jesus eating a guinea pig. [![](https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/09/a0/aa/e0/la-casa-de-la-gastronomia.jpg) ](https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/09/a0/aa/e0/la-casa-de-la-gastronomia.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/38 "2022-04-08T12:25:37Z")
In Tintoretto’s _Gather of the Manna_, the soldier behind Moses (lower right) appears to be carrying a rifle: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Tintoretto%2C_raccolta_della_manna%2C_1594%2C_02.jpg/1200px-Tintoretto%2C_raccolta_della_manna%2C_1594%2C_02.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Tintoretto%2C_raccolta_della_manna%2C_1594%2C_02.jpg/1200px-Tintoretto%2C_raccolta_della_manna%2C_1594%2C_02.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/39 "2022-04-08T15:51:56Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > …Tapestry > > " … and famously includes a dog with horse’s hooves instead of paws." Ah. Thank you. I’m fine with being wrong about the medium - just so long as I wasn’t hallucinating the image. j ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444/40 "2022-04-08T20:12:47Z")
This painting by Ippolita Caffi of an eclipse in Venice in 1842 is inaccurate, but cool-looking. [![](https://i.postimg.cc/J4RJPfMZ/ippolito-caffi-the-eclipse-of-the-sun-in-venice-july-6.jpg) ](https://i.postimg.cc/J4RJPfMZ/ippolito-caffi-the-eclipse-of-the-sun-in-venice-july-6.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-containing-the-equivalent-of-plot-holes/962444.md?page=3)