Woodcut of a "marine boar" from Des Monstres et prodiges by Ambroise Paré, 1573. Des Monstres is filled with unsubstantiated accounts of sea devils, marine sows, and monstrous animals with human faces. With its extensive discussion of reproduction and ill

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Woodcut of a "marine boar" from Des Monstres et prodiges by Ambroise Paré, 1573. Des Monstres is filled with unsubstantiated accounts of sea devils, marine sows, and monstrous animals with human faces. With its extensive discussion of reproduction and illustrations of birth defects, the book invited accusations of pornography. "Gesnerus says that in the Ocean sea is a fish born having the head of a wild boar-hog, which is of a miraculous size, being covered with scales placed on him through the great order of Nature, having very long canine teeth, trenchant and sharp, similar to those of the wild boar-hog." It has been suggested that it may have been a sea lion that was being described.

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Size: 4200px × 2374px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, 1573, 16th, ambroise, animal, animalia, art, artwork, boar, bw, century, des, drawing, fauna, historic, historical, history, illustration, lion, mammal, mammalia, marine, marvels, monsters, monstres, pare, paré, prodiges, prodigies, sea, woodblock, woodcut