Ravenna Monster, 16th Century

In March of 1512 a well respected Florentine apothecary, Lucca Landucci, described a monster born in Ravenna as having a single horn upon its head, two bat-like wings, a serpentine and hermaphrodic lower body, a single eye set in its knee and an eagle like claw for a foot. The monster was almost certainly a child born with a severe and unusual genetic disorder. Records indicate that Pope Julius II ordered the child starved to death. The rumor of The Monster spread across Europe accompanied by dozens of woodcuts and engravings that pictured the monster in various ways. It was considered an omen of God's anger with the Italian people and, as such, it various disjointed parts could be "read" metaphorically. The arms never developed, because the Italians showed a lack of good deeds. The beast and its double set of genitals illustrated sexual immorality: lust, sodomy, bestiality. The great ugly claw was greed, and the knee-mounted eyeball betrayed a covetous love of material things; the single horn, overweening pride. Woodcut from Des Monstres et prodiges by Ambroise Par√©, 1573.

Credit
Science Source / Science Source

Dimensions
2700 x 3868 pixels

Print Size @ 300 dpi
9 x 13 inches / 23 x 33 cm

Releases
Model No you may not need it
Property No you may not need it

SHARE IMAGE

Calculate Price

Keywords

16th, 16th century, abnormal, abnormality, accompanied, across, almost, anger, apothecary, arms, art, artwork, beast, because, bestiality, bird of prey, birth defect, body, born, bw, century, certainly, child, claw, condition, congenital, considered, could, covetous, death, deeds, des, described, developed, disease, disjointed, disorder, double, dozens, drawing, eagle, engravings, et, europe, eye, eyeball, female, florentine, foot, from, genetic, genitals, god, good, great, greed, having, head, historic, historical, history, horn, horned, ii, illustrated, illustration, immorality, indicate, italian, italians, its, julius, knee, lack, like, love, lower, lucca, lust, male, march, marvels, material, medical, medicine, metaphorically, monster, monsters, never, omen, ordered, organs, overweening, pare, parts, pathological, pathology, people, physiological, physiology, pictured, pope, pride, ravenna, read, records, respected, rumor, science, serpentine, set, severe, sex, sexual, showed, single, sodomy, spread, starved, teratology, things, two, ugly, unhealthy, unusual, upon, various, ways, well, winged, wings, woodblock, woodcut, woodcuts, 1573, ambroise pare, par√©, ambroise par√©, monsters and prodigies, monstres, prodiges, ravenna monster, human monster monster, one claw, one foot, two wings, abnormal development, developmental toxicity