“Shakespeare and Dostoevsky leave you with an insufferable regret: for having been neither a saint nor a criminal, the two best forms of self-destruction.”
— Emil Cioran, excerpt from Tears and Saints
In the Bible, Saint Martha is best known for being the sister of Lazarus, of returning-from-the-dead fame. However, according to a French folk tale, she later visited Provence in the south of France and tamed a ferocious dragon-like beast called the Tarasque, which had been terrorizing nearby villages and eating the locals. This event is still celebrated with an annual parade in Tarascon on the last weekend in June, featuring a float shaped like the Tarasque.
There’s a tradition in art of depicting the Tarasque caught mid-munch by Martha, with a pair of legs hanging out of its mouth and a very contrite expression on its face, like a puppy who’s been found eating your socks. Here are a few of my favourite Tarasque-shaming pictures.
all saints
Hours of Louis de Laval, France ca. 1480
BnF, Latin 920, fols. 180r, 181r, 182r
I AM SENDING YOU THE SACRED FACE
One Brief Musical Act with Mother Teresa
A Expressionist Drag Performance in Triptych by Heather Christian
joan of arc in art
antonin mercié (1848-1900) / kay nielsen (c. 1914) / jules bastien-lepage (1879) / unknown artist (1837) / christopher whall (1922) / zoé-laure de chatillon (1869)
The Temptation of St. Anthony (detail), 1516, Hieronymus Bosch
Medium: oil,panel
https://www.wikiart.org/en/hieronymus-bosch/the-temptation-of-st-anthony-1516-1