Fig Leaves & A Grumpy Jesus: Renaissance to Baroque Art

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Have you ever wandered through a museum and thought: Why is the Virgin Mary always dressed in blue? Did they really use eggs in egg tempera—and did it make those paintings smell weird? And why, for some reason, does baby Jesus sometimes look like a tiny grumpy old man?

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Verity Babbs, art historian and comedian, who is on a mission to shake the dust off art history. They take a whirlwind tour from the Renaissance through to the Baroque, taking in fig leaves, duels and murder.

MORE:

Durer: The Great Renaissance Artist

The Tudors' Portrait Artist: Holbein

Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb.
0:02.6	If you'd like not just the Tudors ad-free to get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit.
0:10.5	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries,
0:16.0	including my own recent two-part series, A World Torn Apart, the Dissolution of the Monastries, and enjoy a new
0:23.7	release every week. Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe.
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1:06.6	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb, and welcome to Not Just the Tudors from History Hit,
1:12.4	the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs,
1:16.9	from Holbein to the Huguenose, from Shakespeare to Samarise,
1:21.4	relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft.
1:25.7	Not in other words, just the Tudors,
1:27.9	but most definitely also the Tudors.
1:35.0	Have you ever wandered around an art museum
1:41.7	or an ancient church and thought to yourself,
1:44.4	why is the Virgin Mary always painted wearing blue?
1:48.8	Egg tempura?
	...

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