How in the Middle Ages artists painted animals they had never seen (16 photos)

Medieval artists certainly had difficulty depicting non-European fauna. Whales resembled fish with a lion's face, elephants had pipes instead of trunks, crocodiles ran on long legs. You look and it’s hard not to smile.





Lion (Spain, after 1200)

Fresco from a Spanish monastery, created in the 13th century.

In fact, it’s not so simple to explain why in the Middle Ages artists depicted exotic animals so clumsily. For example, the same lions or monkeys were kept in many places in Europe - for fun. Or hares. They are definitely not difficult to see. However, in old books you can often see huge rabbits chasing hunters and they don’t look too much like themselves.

Snail (Holland, around 1350)



How do you like this snail? The artists definitely saw snails.

Modern historians give several explanations. Firstly, symbolism and religious allusions were very important to medieval artists. Many references are simply incomprehensible to us, but at that time they were considered obvious. For example, books often featured characters from popular fairy tales or songs that we don’t know. And many biblical stories have been forgotten.

Elephant (Greece, 1510 - 1520)



Something the artists thought was just cool. The same rabbits punishing hunters - in real life this is impossible and the incredible situation amused the authors of the illustrations and readers. Some drawings should generally be treated as caricatures. For example, depicting anthropomorphic monkeys in church robes was considered impudent; it was a real challenge, a “roasting” that was understandable to one’s own people.

Leopard (England, Aberdeen Illustrated Bestiary, 12th century)



Is it just me or is the leopard puzzled by something?

What else? Lack of practice must be taken into account. Today, children are given albums and markers from early childhood. For us, drawing is a common, accessible activity. Almost a thousand years ago it was completely different. Artists could not afford to waste materials on honing a style. And practice is incredibly important to master a skill. So yes, many medieval artists are average at best.

Hippopotamus (illustration from Jacob van Marlant's book, circa 1350)



Obviously there weren't enough models. If today you want to learn how to draw a crocodile, you find a suitable photo on the Internet and learn. In the Middle Ages there was a separate “genre” of books - bestiaries, manuscripts with drawings of exotic animals and descriptions. You take such a bestiary, listen to the tales of your matchmaker’s brother, who caught a glimpse of something somewhere, heard something out of the corner of your ear, and draw in accordance with the image in your head. Naturally, it didn’t work out very well, because it’s like you’re playing “broken phone.”

Lions and bears (early 13th century, work by unknown artist)



However, some controversial decisions of medieval artists were their conscious stylistic choices. They took into account the work of their predecessors, thought about how to draw more interestingly - so that everyone would be surprised and impressed. They added numerous hidden meanings to the pictures, understandable at that time, but not obvious today.

Crocodile (1225 - 1250, Rochester Bestiary)



As you can see, there are plenty of reasons and explanations. However, none of this makes medieval animal illustrations any less funny. I suggest you look at the selection and smile. And don't forget: we live in an ever-changing world. Who knows, maybe in 500 years our descendants will smile at our films, memes, comics. Yes, they almost certainly will! What do you think? Share your opinion in the comments.

The whale (XIII century) clearly has questions for the artist (he, by the way, is unknown).



Beaver with fish tail. Well, why not?



Narwhal.



What do you think of an owl with a human face? Surely it was not drawn this way by accident, but now I can’t understand why?!



And of course, medieval artists were haunted by elephants. Look through the gallery with them.