I 'Triton', II \Sea monster in the likeness of a monk\", III \" Sea man in the dress of a bishop\", IV \"Sea Satyr\". Copperplate from Gaspar Schott's

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I 'Triton', II \Sea monster in the likeness of a monk\", III \" Sea man in the dress of a bishop\", IV \"Sea Satyr\". Copperplate from Gaspar Schott's 'Physica Curiosa, sive mirabilia naturae.' Gaspar Schott was a Jesuit scholar (1608-1666). He worked with Athanasius Kircher in Rome before returning to Germany in 1655 where he was appointed professor of Mathematics at Augsburg. This work may have been inspired by unfinished elements of Kircher's work and draws together a remarkable array of the real and the imagined. Schott describes them all as real, the monkfish here seems derived from the likeness of a dried ray fish to a monk. The Bishop fish is a logical extension of the principle!. Many of Schott's images were ultimately derived from similar to be found in the 16th century works of Gessner."

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Size: 3551px × 4921px
Photo credit: © PAUL D STEWART/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 17th, animal, artwork, beast, bishop, black, black--white, century, curiosity, fantastic, fantasy, fish, freak, human, illustration, kircher, marine, mermaid, merman, monkfish, monochrome, monster, monstrosity, myth, mythical, people, person, schotti, sea, white