Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Monstrorum Historia

Woodcut illustrations from Aldrovandi's 'History of Monsters'



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Capreolus Polyceros



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Monstrum triceps capite Vulpis, Draconis, & Aquilae



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Monstrum tetrachiron alatum capite humano aurito



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Orobonis Piscis effigies



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Camphurch effigies



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Homo Fanesius auritus



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Icon Monstrosae cuiusdam Chimaerae



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Monstrum alatum, & cornutum instar Cacodaemonis



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Pseudophyseter



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Monstrum Marinum rudimenta habitus Episcopi referens



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Equus marinus monstrosus



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Aper Marinus Cetaceus



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Canis monstroso capite



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Monstra Niliaca Parei



16th century woodcut of seamonster by Aldronvandi
Infans [..]^, cum promuscide, & capitibus animalium



16th century woodcut of sea monster by Aldronvandi
Monstrosus Sur marinus



16th century woodcut of marine monster by Aldronvandi
Draco marinus monophthalmos bipes



16th century woodcut of chicken monster by Aldronvandi
Gallus Indicus auritus tridactylus



16th century woodcut of giant chicken monster by Aldronvandi
Gallus monstrosus



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Monstrum cornutum, and alatum aliud



16th century woodcut of monster by Aldronvandi
Monstrum hermaphroditicum pedibus aquilinis



To quote myself..
"Ulissi Aldrovandi (Aldrovandus) (1522-1605) graduated from Padua and Bologna Universities with degrees in law, philosophy and medicine and taught logic to supplement the occasional patronage bestowed on him by his cousin, the Pope.

During nearly a year of confinement in Rome while fighting a heresy charge, Aldrovandi developed a strong interest in the natural world. He began to collect all manner of specimens which apparently came to constitute a formidable natural history museum for those that visited him.

He travelled quite a bit in his quest for specimens and recorded his observations in some 4000 manuscripts, a number of which were published during his lifetime. His writings include studies in ornithology, medicine, hydrology, zoology, botany and, as can be imagined from the embellished and fantastical images here, a paper on mythical creatures as well (among others).

Aldrovandi was instrumental in establishing the botanical gardens in Bologna and his alma mater there awarded him the first Professorial chair in natural science."

12 comments:

  1. Wonderful post, as always, thanks!

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  2. I almost tire of your invariable awesomeness (but never do).

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  3. Thanks for posting these monsters. Here's how it engaged my mind regarding exoplanets: http://t.co/Ua88c6D

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  4. Some ilustrations are really amazing, if i were a kid maybe ths night couldn't sleep.

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  5. great post...as always, very interesting. 'Infans...cum probuscide' was used in Emberto Eco's children's book 'Two astronauts'...text is illustrated in a very unusual way using images from antiquity and some vintage cutouts.

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  6. So superb. Falling in love with each engraving. Wonderful to have found your blog.

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  7. Thanks for your wonderful blog!

    Aldrovandi's Monstrorum images are also available in high resolution from the Online Galleries of the History of Science Collections of the University of Oklahoma Libraries:
    http://hos.ou.edu/galleries/16thCentury/Aldrovandi/1570/

    See the Collections blog for further links, including a list of digitized books.

    PEACE
    Kerry Magruder, Curator

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  8. Excellent choice!
    This book offers rare fantastic drawings.
    I already made a post about Aldrovandi museum in Bologna where I saw his naturalia collection, maybe you should find it interesting.

    http://larocaille.altervista.org/blog/2011/08/08/ulisse-adrovandi/

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  9. The University of Oklahoma has now digitized its copy in good quality .jpegs: http://hos.ou.edu/galleries/16thCentury/Aldrovandi/1570/

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  10. Gee I must be rude or lazy or something. Thanks everybody and sorry for the - apparent - no show! There was an accident... my elephant ate my homework .. I was curing a disease .. aliens took me.. HONEST!!

    I will (finally!) add a link to the U. Oklahoma copy up above. UO has a fabulous History of Sci / digitised book collection by the way [LINK]

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