Pedro Machuca, The Virgin Mary and the Souls in Purgatory, 1517, oil on panel.  Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid; Jean Thenaud, The Triumph of Fortitude and Prudence (Fr.F.v.XV.1, fol. 9), c. 1522-1525, tempera and gold leaf on parchment.  National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg

And I thought St. Bernard’s vision of the mystic lactation was a WTF subject!! (read about it here and here)

In Pedro Machuca’s painting (below), the Virgin Mary, with the aid of the infant Jesus, sends soothing drops of breast milk to the writhing souls in Purgatory.

Pedro Machuca, The Virgin Mary and the Souls in Purgatory, 1517, oil on panel.  Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

At the center of the Garden of Youth and Birth stands the crowned figure of a woman whose breasts issue forth milk into a basin that ultimately cascades into the circular river that surrounds the green space.  In the full-page illumination, take note of the figure of Pythagoras, who stands on a column at the bottom, as well as the wild and exotic races, to the left, and Louise of Savoy with her entourage to the right.

Jean Thenaud, The Triumph of Fortitude and Prudence (Fr.F.v.XV.1, fol. 9), c. 1522-1525, tempera and gold leaf on parchment.  National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg

In case you’re wondering how we find such amazingly WTF images, there’s a simple answer: we read a lot (and sometimes we just browse books at random on the library shelves, scouring for f’ed up images).