Why are medieval babies so ugly

No, it was a deliberate choice, not a lack of skill. Painters followed strict symbolic conventions instead of realism, giving babies adult faces to represent wisdom and holiness. Once artists shifted toward naturalism, later paintings show they were fully capable of drawing lifelike, chubby-cheeked infants.

Babies started looking more realistic once the Renaissance began, when artists rejected symbolic conventions in favor of naturalism and closely observed anatomy. Painters studied real proportions and expressions instead of copying older religious models, so infants finally appeared soft, rounded, and childlike again.

They look alike because painters were copying one accepted template, mostly based on depictions of the infant Jesus, rather than sketching individual children from life. Since medieval art valued symbolic meaning over personal likeness, this same standardized face got reused across nearly every religious painting of a child.

Yes, completing lessons like this one counts toward a certificate for the unit it belongs to. It's a simple way to mark your progress and have something to show for the art history you've picked up along the way.