1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: As any art lover will tell you, paintings can be beautiful. 7 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: They can be emotional, moving, and deeply important to history 8 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: and culture. But they can also be brutal, unsettling, even visceral. 9 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: A good example of this is the work of Italian 10 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 1: painter at Caravaggio. Born in Milan in fifteen seventy one, 11 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: he was orphaned after both his parents died of the plague. 12 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: He moved to Rome in fifteen ninety five and began 13 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:04,600 Speaker 1: selling paintings to support himself. Caravaggio rose to fame as 14 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 1: one of the most unique artists of the Baroque era. 15 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: He was particularly well known for his use of light. 16 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: The backgrounds of his paintings tended to be very dark, 17 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: serving as a stark contrast to the yellow lit characters 18 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: in the forefront. Many of his pieces centered around religious 19 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: and mythological imagery, and he didn't shy away from the 20 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: uglier aspects of these stories. For example, one of his 21 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: most famous works is titled Head of Medusa. It's painted 22 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: on a circular wooden shield and it shows the serpent 23 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: headed woman with her face contorted in a scream of 24 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:40,320 Speaker 1: fury and terror. But here's the real kicker. Medusa's head 25 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: isn't connected to anything. It's cut off at the neck 26 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: and the bottom of the picture is a huge theatrical 27 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: spray of blood red paint. Now, if you look at 28 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: Caravaggio's catalog, you'll find that decapitation is actually a pretty 29 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: common theme. He painted one canvas called Judith Beheading Holophernies 30 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: and another called the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. 31 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: I'm sure you don't need any more details about those. 32 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 1: Clearly Caravaggio had a flare for the dramatic and the 33 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 1: uh violence in his art. But what most people don't 34 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: know is the same hell true in his real life. 35 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: You see, Caravaggio was a scoundrel of the absolute worst variety. 36 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: Between fifteen ninety eight and sixteen oh one, when he 37 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: was in his late twenties, he got into legal trouble 38 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: on at least two occasions, once for carrying a sword 39 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: without a permit and once for beating a man with 40 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: a stick. He was also accused of attacking a different 41 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 1: man with the aforementioned sword, although apparently that charge was 42 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: never proven. A couple of years later, when the painter 43 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,399 Speaker 1: was in his early thirties, he developed a somewhat problematic 44 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 1: relationship with another artist, Giovanni Baglioni. While many of the 45 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: details have been lost to history, we do know one 46 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 1: thing for sure. In sixteen oh three, Caravaggio wrote a 47 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 1: poem mocking Baglioni's art, and the things he said were 48 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: so cruel and inappropriate I cannot and will not repeat 49 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: them here. Baglioni, of course, was furious. He sued his 50 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: rival artist for libel and one Caravaggio spent two weeks 51 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,239 Speaker 1: in jail as a result, but his bad behavior didn't 52 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: stop there. Over the next three years, he went to 53 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:14,240 Speaker 1: court for a number of reasons, some of which are 54 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 1: honestly just bizarre. Again, he was caught carrying a sword 55 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: without a permit. He threw rocks at one police officer 56 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,959 Speaker 1: and cursed at another. Once at a restaurant, he threw 57 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,920 Speaker 1: an entire plate of artichokes into a waiter's face and 58 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: the icing on top of the cake. He was six 59 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: months behind on rent, and his landlady was threatening to 60 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: seize all of his furniture as payment, as if his 61 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: life couldn't become any more of a mess. In sixteen 62 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: oh six, the painter made his worst decision yet. He 63 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: killed a man named Renukio Tomasoni. Now the circumstances of 64 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: the murder, which happened over four hundred years ago, are 65 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:52,560 Speaker 1: now unclear, and autopsy showed that Renukio bled out through 66 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: a cut in his femoral artery, which runs through the 67 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: upper leg. Some historians believe the men got into a 68 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: bar fight, or brawled after a ten huts match, or 69 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: even battled over a woman. Either way, though the result 70 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: was the same. Caravaggio, who let blood flow so freely 71 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: in his paintings, now had literal blood on his hands. 72 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: He fled Rome in the hopes of evading prison time, 73 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: and for the next four years, it's believed that he 74 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: lived in various small towns throughout Italy. He died in 75 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: sixteen ten, although again it's not quite clear what killed him. 76 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 1: It could have been syphilis, an infected wound, or even 77 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 1: lead poisoning. But however, the artist's life ended. His legacy 78 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 1: lives on now, four centuries later. Most people don't know 79 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: about Caravaggio's personal life. Instead, they know the iconic look 80 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: of his paintings, which are still on display in churches 81 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: and museums throughout Italy and the rest of the world. 82 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 1: If you're lucky enough to ever see one in person, 83 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: Remember that the man behind the canvas wasn't just a 84 00:04:47,880 --> 00:05:06,480 Speaker 1: brilliant artist. He was also a notorious criminal. It's hard 85 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: to think about twentieth century literature without thinking about the 86 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:13,840 Speaker 1: concept of dystopia. A dystopia is a nightmare world, a 87 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: society rife with suffering and injustice. In the wake of 88 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: not one, but two World wars, Twentieth century authors used 89 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: fictional dystopian settings to comment on politics, violence, and oppression 90 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: in the real world. There are two dystopian novels that 91 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: stand out even today, though nineteen eighty four by George 92 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 1: Orwell and Brave New World by Aldus Huxley. The two 93 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,599 Speaker 1: books have some key differences, though, for example, in nineteen 94 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: eighty four, people are constantly watched by quote unquote Big Brother, 95 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,279 Speaker 1: and they can be jailed by the so called thought police. 96 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:49,160 Speaker 1: The oppressive rules of the society are enforced through violence. 97 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: My contrast, in Brave New World, infants and adolescents are 98 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: conditioned to accept their place in the social hierarchy. By 99 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: the time they're adults, people have been effectively brainwashed. Plus 100 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: they're given a concert flow of drugs to keep them happy. 101 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 1: There are also quite a few things that the novels 102 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: have in common. Both feature totalitarian governments that control the 103 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:12,479 Speaker 1: lives of their citizens. Both were widely banned because the 104 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: ideas within them were considered dangerous, and both authors, Alvius 105 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:20,239 Speaker 1: Huxley and George Orwell, had a curious real life connection. 106 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,120 Speaker 1: Let's go back to the year nineteen eleven. Alvius Huxley 107 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:26,479 Speaker 1: was just seventeen years old, but he'd been through a 108 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,040 Speaker 1: lot in his short life. His mother had died three 109 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: years earlier, and he had recently developed a condition called carotitis. 110 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 1: This is inflammation of a cornea, or the outer layer 111 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,160 Speaker 1: of the eye, and it left Huxley with significantly impaired 112 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:42,280 Speaker 1: vision for much of his life. He'd intended to pursue 113 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: a career as a medical doctor, but his poor eyesight 114 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:48,720 Speaker 1: had now made it impossible, so Huxley made a pretty 115 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 1: unclear career shift. Instead of medicine, he decided to study 116 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:56,000 Speaker 1: English literature. He enrolled at Oxford University, and as we 117 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,280 Speaker 1: already know, he soon found that he had quite a 118 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: knack for writing. In nineteen sixteen he graduated and also 119 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,839 Speaker 1: published his first poetry collection. But as any writer will 120 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: tell you, jobs are not easy to find. While he 121 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: worked on building up his resume as an author, he 122 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: made ends meet by working as a teacher at England's 123 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: Eton College. Even though it was called a college, it 124 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: wasn't really a university, though it was an elite prep school, 125 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 1: the same place that Huxley himself had gone as a teenager. 126 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: Huxley spent his days teaching English and French, and well, 127 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:30,560 Speaker 1: let's just say he didn't love it. He had trouble 128 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: maintaining discipline over his classroom, and he had one student 129 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: named Eric Blair who was constantly making trouble. Still, Huxley 130 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: was determined to stick it out. He continued teaching, but 131 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: spent his evenings hunched over a desk, writing furiously. Between 132 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen and nineteen eighteen, he published two more poetry collections. Finally, 133 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 1: in nineteen nineteen, he was offered a job at a 134 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 1: well known literary magazine. He could finally quit teaching and 135 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: write full time. From then on, Huxley wrote at a 136 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: break neck pace. He was a bit of a chameleon, too, 137 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: pennying everything from poems in short stories to feature articles. 138 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: Eventually he began writing novels too, and he published Brave 139 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: New World in nineteen thirty two, when he was just 140 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: thirty eight years old. By the nineteen forties, Huxley was 141 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: widely known as one of the most significant authors of 142 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: the twentieth century. People looked up to him, which is 143 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: part of the reason why in nineteen forty nine he 144 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: received a newly published book in the mail. It was 145 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: called nineteen eighty four. George Orwell had requested that his 146 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,760 Speaker 1: publisher sen Huxley a copy. Huxley read it and sent 147 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:39,320 Speaker 1: back a thoughtful, although quite critical note, which began and 148 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:42,360 Speaker 1: I quote, agreeing with all that the critics have written 149 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 1: of it. I need not tell you yet once more 150 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:49,840 Speaker 1: how fine and profoundly important nineteen eighty four is. However, 151 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:53,680 Speaker 1: after this initial compliment, Huxley picked a fight with the author. 152 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 1: He basically said that his own dystopia, the one that 153 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: he imagined in Brave New World, was much more believable. 154 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,720 Speaker 1: Huxley wrote as if he had something to teach Orwell, 155 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: and maybe that's because he used to be his teacher. 156 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:09,880 Speaker 1: You see, George Orwell was a pseudonym. His real name 157 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: was Eric Blair. As in Aldous Huxley's Problem Students, the 158 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:18,080 Speaker 1: two giants of literature had been connected before either of 159 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: them rose to fame, which certainly helps explain why their 160 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 1: nightmare worlds were so curiously similar. I hope you've enjoyed 161 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 162 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,679 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 163 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:41,760 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 164 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Manke in partnership with how Stuff Works. 165 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,680 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 166 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 167 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the Worldolore dot com. 168 00:09:56,160 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.