larsdatter:What are these strange, fantastical creatures? Elephants.These illustrators from the 12th
larsdatter:What are these strange, fantastical creatures? Elephants.These illustrators from the 12th-16th centuries may not have actually seen elephants themselves, but they had read about them in books — and were just as able to illustrate them as they were able to draw any many of other exotic or fantastical beasts that they’d never personally seen, either.Many of the facts that you remember observing about elephant behavior from cartoons actually date back to the medieval bestiaries and before. The Aberdeen Bestiary, for example, tells you that that “Elephants have a lively intelligence and a long memory; they move around in herds; they flee from a mouse.”This assortment of images comes from the new linkspage on elephants in medieval/Renaissance artwork. -- source link
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