Long time no see… That’s probably what the people in Rembrandt’s portraits say to museum-goers who frequent his paintings. Those people do not have sentience as they are illustrations… But they were once people. Something about paintings that is equally awesome and unnerving is that most paintings, especially in the classical era of art, contained real people as subject matter. We have a glimpse of what some random person from the classical era looks like, have an unobstructed view of their demeanor when people were painting them, and they have no idea they are part of a painting that’s likely worth millions. History is so strange…

But then again, it really isn’t. For every day we live, we have another day to write the history of our own lives. Our digital footprints, our impact on others’ lives, and everything in between ensure that our memory lives on somewhere, somehow. The funniest way this happens? Through memes, of course! It’s no shock to anyone that humor is quite timeless, but these classical art memes exhibit just how witty humans were then and are now. Scroll below to get a taste of humorous history, without all the backstories!