Simeon Deutsch
11/12/12
Kucharski
(click to enlarge)
This medieval illustration of a lion from a Belgian manuscript made in the 12th century is geometric, anatomically unsound, and highly decorative; which was the typical method of depicting non-European animals during the High Middle Ages. Scholastic scholars and monks knew nothing about the natural world beyond the confines of their monasteries and the nearby countryside, and so to them Pliny the Elder, Aristotle, and the Holy Bible were windows into the uncharted void little traversed by Europeans. The animals that classical writers described were as distant as griffins and dragons to the Europeans, and accordingly were often depicted next to such beasts as ornamentation on manuscripts, lacking the intimate relationship European animals such as cattle and dogs had with humans.
This Italian manuscript from the 15th century depicts (clockwise) a lion, leopard, rabbit, and an elephant. After the Crusades, Europe became more conscious of its neighboring continents and their inhabitants, and knowledge of the outside world flooded into Europe through trade and hearsay. An effort was made by this artist to somewhat accurately draw animals described by classical writers, as well as one that was familiar to him, but also an animal--the elephant--which is so far from what an actual elephant looks like that he must have based his sketch off of the observations of someone else. In contrast with the other three animals, the elephant is appallingly ugly and beast-like, with little attention paid to accuracy.
In the early 16th century, at the dawn of the Age of Exploration, northern Renaissance painter Albert Durer created a woodcut of a rhinoceros. The woodcut, based on notes taken by a spectator who had briefly seen what was the only rhinoceros in Europe at the time (sent to the king of Portugal from India), was soon considered the chief authority on what a rhinoceros looked like and began circulating throughout Europe through various bestiaries--encyclopedias of beasts which had risen in popularity since the invention of the printing press and the introduction of non-European animals into Europe's dominion. Durer's Rhinoceros, although similar in form to an actual rhinoceros, is plated in a grotesque shell reminiscent of a suit of armor and bears a small horn protruding out of its shoulders.
Durer's Rhinoceros, now infamous, epitomizes Europe's state of mind as they expanded across the globe commercially and militarily from the 16th to the early 18th centuries. As Europeans sailed around the world and encountered new peoples in the New World, India, Africa, and China, they saw themselves as pushing at the borders of Christendom, not annexing other civilizations. Inhabitants of these new-found lands were, in the eyes of Europe, heathens (i. e. non-Christians)--a view which inherently projects a profound sense of civil inferiority and otherness. Animals discovered by the Europeans during the Age of Exploration were depicted as dangerous, unnatural, and wholly heathen montrosities. An alarming amount of credibility was given to artists who had never seen the animals in person (nor, in many cases, had ever left the country), and although a growing attention was paid to detail, European artists'/naturalists' obsession with emphasizing the grotesque reveals the blind crusading enthusiasm and rationale--e.g. the conquistadors searching for the mythical fountain of youth and enslaving Native Americans because they weren't Christian--Europe took towards colonizing the rest of the world.
A French map of South Africa from the early 18th century is decorated with details and descriptions of animals which although from a distance look familiar are up-close quite fantastical. Durer's Rhinoceros graces the center of the top row with a spiky shell, and to its right is an equally well armored green lizard. Most unusual is the black lizard in the bottom right corner, which had outlines of white crosses on its back. Additionally, these reptiles are more dinosaur-like than the meek scaled critters that inhabit South Africa.
A Swiss illustration in The History of Animals from the 16th century presents an elephant in a similar fashion as the widely circulated rhinoceros. The elephant is accurate in form, but has a highly schematized ear and trunk, and the shading of the elephant's trunk incorrectly matches the rest of its body, even looking as if it were coming out of the elephant's mouth. Additionally, the tusks seem to serve as giant fangs. Upon closer inspection of its face and bone structure, this elephant seems much more bizarre and disturbing than it should be.
This illustration of giraffes and camels is in The History of Quadrupeds written in the mid-17th century by a Polish naturalist. The author presents his work as an encyclopedia of the zoological world, and yet the giraffes are rendered severely fantastical by the artist. They have the physique of a horse, which fits awkwardly with their massive necks. Additionally, although real giraffes have small stumps on their heads, these giraffes have large spikes. Clearly the artist must have based these giraffes on hearsay or written observations, and this strained attempt at scientifically categorizing misrepresented animals is seen throughout the second half of the Age of Exploration.
Oddly enough, hippopotami were considered mythical beasts. Since Europeans weren't able to gain access to a real hippopotamus and classical writers described it as a beast of the Nile, the imposing, burly, and large mouthed hippopotami became lost in the lore of antiquity. In this illustration a hippopotamus is placed around mythological beasts and is depicted as very doglike, with a canine snout, paws, and stance while doing a very canine activity.
This illustration of a babirusa is from an English book entitled Travels to the East written in the mid-17th century. Despite the tall noble stature of this deer-like boar as it gallops away from a swarm of hunters, a babirusa is actually small stubby hog. Babirusas, which live primarily in Indonesia, are quite ugly on their own so it is interesting how the artist chose to transform the babirusa into a gallant antelope. Perhaps, like the suit of armor on Durer's Rhinoceros, the artist was seeking to glorify the mythical land of spices and based his drawing off of secondhand observations.
This illustration of Chinese wildlife is in a Dutch book from the mid-17th century, written by a diplomat as he made a journey to Peking. The general consensus among artists about the character of China (different to other parts of the world which Europe encountered) was that it was aggressive and formidable, and this was reflected in depictions of Chinese animals. In this scene, an unnatural looking tiger crouches and growls at the viewer, while a musk deer--a deer with fangs--looms in the background. The choice of including a musk deer among the scene, which is not a particularly common or notable animal in China, reemphasizes the intention of rendering this cast of animals fearsome. The orangutan, sitting on the far right, is eerily human-like.
This illustration of a tiger (no doubt copied from another book) is from The Natural History of Quadrupeds written in the mid-17th century. Although tigers have similar features as lions and leopards, the mangled signature features of a tiger--the incoherent stripes, thin body, and wolflike head-- clearly shows the artists lack of experience with actual tigers and also emphasizes the artists automatic reliance on wolflike rather than catlike, or more aggressive rather than calm, features.
This illustration of flying squirrels in China is from a Dutch book written in the mid-17th century by Olfert Dapper, a man who wrote several popular books on global travel but never ventured beyond the Lowlands. Again, Chinese wildlife is depicted as very formidable and aggressive, and in this case almost fantastical and anthropomorphic.
French explorer Andre Thevet wrote a book in the mid 16th century entitled Singlularitez de la France Antarctique about his travels to an ill-fated French colony in Brazil which contains several exemplary illustrations (copied from other books) of how Europeans perceived what strange creatures must dwell in the dense and mythical jungles of South America. This toucan for example, although known for its large beak, has that signature feature exaggerated and as a result looks quite unnatural and terrifying.
One odd commonplace of Age of Exploration bestiaries and New World travel books is the bear ape. Although most likely a sloth, one can only image the amount of hearsay and vague descriptions that lead to the creation of this primate. Also, like the humanlike representation of the orangutan and flying squirrels in China, the assumption that an animal that the artist has never seen has human characteristics associates the inhabitants of the New World with the animals and in that sense evokes a message of non-tameness and a necessity for moral order.
Another odd commonplace in New World bestiaries is the Su (or a Wilde Beast in the New-found World called Su). It's probably a possum, but again the primate-like features of the Su, the sheer fantastical misrepresentation of the animal, and its multiple publications reinforce that Europeans were willing to believe that anything as non-European as this must have lived in the New World.
This collage of South American marine life is from an English translation of a Dutch book written in the mid-17th century. Unlike land animals, the majority of fish do not have a sense of otherness reflected onto depictions of them. Still, the names of these fish attest to the Europeans' lack of scientific integrity when confronting the unknown, as many of the fish are related to European animals or called purely by observational names. One notable exception is the sea eagle, which (I discovered after a bit of research) is an upside-down stingray. Although not as overblown as the sea monsters that line Age of Exploration maps, the creation of the sea eagle further illustrates how Europeans reflected their fears and uncertainties onto their own scientific observations.
This illustration is from a Dutch book entitled The New and Unknown World written by Arnoldus Montanus in the mid-17th century. The sea eagle, here labeled as a dragon, is drawn in vivid detail. It's placed next to other marine oddities in a tropical scene, constructing a fantastical landscape of what was presented in the text as a truthful representation of the New World. The creatures are unusual and somewhat horrific--hellish beasts that could only be found on the shores of the New World.
An illustration of a narwhal as a 'sea unicorn' from History of the Carriby Islands, written in the mid-17th century, continues to emphasize how Europeans purposely projected monster-like qualities onto foreign sea creatures and circulated their incorrect assumption based on hearsay. The 'sea unicorn' is described in the book, as quoted by an eye-witness, as spiny fish with a head similar to that of a horse with a spiral horn jutting out. The author heard conflicting accounts of the features of a narwhal, so he included another (and much more accurate) drawing below the 'sea unicorn'.
From Conrad Gesner's 16th century The History of Animals, this illustration of a porcupine feeds off of the premise of a porcupine as an inherently dangerous creature. The species depicted here is a crested porcupine, which lives mostly in Africa. Crested porcupines admittedly have very large spines poking out of their back and head, but Gesner's drawing shows the spines as wildly disordered and depicts the porcupine's face as that of a hungry predator's: whereas in reality the spines are more orderly and the face more amiable.
This drawing of a pigeon from an English book entitled A Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, published in the mid-18th century, presents a new era
of Europe's understanding of the New World. As Europeans settled into
non-European lands and fought wars over their new possessions, while
concurrently the Scientific Revolution was in full swing, depictions of
non-European animals became calmer and more dutiful. A wide variety of
mundane creatures--categorized by species rather than fantastical
qualities--became the focus of natural histories. Now, New World animals were
propped onto a makeshift stage where they were scientifically arranged with
distinct mise-en-scene for the purpose of intellectual observation and
scrutiny. Gone were the days of wild beasts called Su and rhinoceroses clad in iron armor.
