Keywords: Monstrous Races, Monstrous Births, Margarita Philosophia, St. Augustine of Hippo, mark of Cain The etymology of the word ‘monster’ is derived from the Latin monere, meaning to warn and were regarded to presage intending calamity (Gilmore, 2003, p. 9). During the Renaissance, monstrous births were considered warnings against sin towards the collective, as well… Continue reading The Monstrous Races in Gregor Reisch’s Margarita Philosophia
Keywords: Monstrous Births, Portents, Papacy, Muslim Turks, Crusades Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle (1493) described a monstrous birth that was born with a face of a dog on their back. The artist interpreted this description based on conjoined twins as the birth was portrayed with two heads, one human and one canine, and a shared body.… Continue reading What is the meaning behind the dog-man conjoined twins in the Nuremberg Chronicle?
Keywords: Human-animal hybrids, Monstrous Races, Monstrous Births, Wild Man, Werewolves Representations of human-animal hybrids and the concept of shape-shifting in both literary sources and the visual arts captured the early modern European imagination. This is particularly evident in the prevalence of pictorial prints featuring these creatures dated in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that… Continue reading Representations of Monsters in German Renaissance Prints
Dana K Rehn 