Chimera, Legendary Creature
Entitled: "The Chimera (La Chim̬re de Monsieur Desprez)." The Chimera was a monstrous fire-breathing female and male creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of three animals. Usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat arising from its back, and a tail that ended in a snake's head, the Chimera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra. The term chimera has come to describe any mythical or fictional animal with parts taken from various animals, or to describe anything perceived as wildly imaginative or implausible. Etching by Louis Jean Desprez, circa 1777-84. Desprez's mythical beast has three heads: one a bird and two with the features of the devil. The skeletal monster devours its human prey amid the bones of its previous victims framed by the dark semicircle of an archway, the pale semicircle of the moon visible beyond.
Size: 4200px × 3235px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, 1770s, 1780s, 18th, art, artwork, bones, bw, century, chimera, creature, desprez, drawing, fabled, famous, folk, folklore, folkloric, folktale, headed, heads, historic, historical, history, human, illustration, imaginary, important, jean, legend, legendary, lore, louis, monster, myth, mythic, mythological, mythology, notable, prey, tale, wetting
