Why are there so many 17th century paintings of monkeys getting drunk?

[Maskull]

 

[draggs]

Because monkeys were the hot new popular culture fad

 

[Seth MacFarlane]

Because monkeys are stupid and stupid funne drunk haha

 

[mate]

Dogs weren't invented yet.

 

[Red Hood]

Because you couldn't give them auto loading pistols yet

 

[goodbudweiser]

something something, society

 

[What the shit]

I like monkeys Monkeys are cool

 

[User names must be unique]

 

[Ophelia Jones]

@Maskull you can't say that and only post One.

 

[Zvantastika]

Because monkeys in the 17th century had a very stressful life, going from job to job just to earn some bananas. Being a cat barber would surely lead anyone into heavy drinking.

 

[Maskull]

@Maskull you can't say that and only post One.

It’s the only one I could find.

 

[Solid Snek]

According to this blog, the most widely-held interpretation is that drunken monkeys were simply seen as a fun thing to paint. However, the author argues that there was likely a deeper significance to these paintings; they were, he claims, a kind of early-modern Reefer Madness, meant as social commentary about the dangers of the new drugs that had become available to Europeans, including tobacco, opium, and distilled spirits.

It also has quite a few examples of monkey paintings:



I don't know. The author may simply be reading a modern bias into these paintings.

 

[Kenya Jones]

Same thing as this probably

 

[Jesus Quintana]

Those paintings were the original NFTs

 

[KittyGremlin]

monke

 

[What the shit]

Those paintings were the original NFTs

NFT rhymes with chimpanzee so you might be on to something.

 

[Butcher Pete]

Niggers had not yet been imported into civilization, but ye olde worlde artists still needed an outlet for their raycisms.

It also has quite a few examples of monkey paintings:

Whurrlsta

 

[winterfag]

The reference monkeys were meant to be sober, this is just how they showed up for the painting sessions