What would the world look like if animals were in high society or were captured on canvas like people of old?
This Photoshop competition fromDesign Crowdchallenges artists to create visions of what it might look like by blending creatures into Renaissance paintings.
The results are amusing, beautiful and amusing too. Have a look at this gallery to relish their brilliant efforts.
Camel with a pearl earring
The classic paintingGirl with a Pearl Earringis certainly much more hilarious with the addition of the camel.
We find it particularly great because the Photoshop artist has gone to the trouble of still including the pearl earring in the updated version of the painting. Would the original artist, Johannes Vermeer, approve of the changes or think his art had been ruined? We’ll never know.
Fox and the hens
Originally picturing aBoy with a Basket, this Photoshopper has reimagined the painting pitting two arch-enemies as friends. A happy fox can be seen now, relaxing with his paw on a hen, surrounded by a bounty of eggs.
Majestic swan
Swans are already fairly magnificent and majestic, but pop one in a fancy dress and paint it on canvas and you have something even more impressive to admire. Just don’t get too close or you might get snapped.
Portrait of a goatsmith
We love this vision of a world where goats can also be goldsmiths. This well-dressed chap can be seen hanging casually out of a window showing off his lovingly crafted ring.
The tweaks to this painting are faithful to the original - “Portrait of a Goldsmith” from 1617 but add some subtle colour changes that make it stand out.
Somehow the simple addition of a top hat and monocle is enough to make even the weirdest-looking animals appear regal and part of high society.
This dapper bird is also up to some serious business.
A lion peeling potatoes
We enjoyed this entry to the fourth Renaissance Photoshop competition. A lion is seen here peacefully peeling potatoes when it accidentally gets a nick and bleeds all over the place. Even lions can feel pain.
Monkey Lisa
It’s unsurprising to see Mona Lisa on this list. Is there another more iconic painting?
We like this vision of what the classic image might look like if there was a monkey as the subject instead of a lady.Mona Lisa has also been usedin other hilarious Photoshoppings elsewhere and we hope to see more in future.
Madonna adoring the kitten
There are many different classic paintings of the Virgin Mary adoring Jesus Christ.
This Photoshopping was based on one such image, said to date back to 1500 and was crafted by Pinturicchio. Now it’s reimagined with Grumpy Cat adoring and equally grumpy kitten.
Albrecht Dürer’s mother
This image was the winner of the16th Animal Renaissance competition. It’s an interesting vision of an ape replacing Albrecht Dürer’s mother inone of the first paintingscrafted by the famous artist in 1490.
Working by candlelight
This adaptation shows an update to Gerard van Honthorst’s work from somewhere around 1620. It is thought to show Jesus Christ as a child, providing light for his carpenter father to work by in the late evening. In the background, the other characters can be seen with the wings of an angel. It’s also suggested that the painting is an interpretation of the words that Christ was the light of the world.
Now it looks like it could be a vision of what the painting might look like in an alternative universe where the Apes ruled the planet.
