Monstrosities Illustrated
Illustrations in the 1665 edition of Fortunio Liceti’s ‘De Monstris’. The book itself was published in 1616 but there were no illustrations to embellish it.
17th century was a golden age for any kinds of curiosities: pygmies, supposed mermaids, deformed fetuses, conjoined twins and other natural marvels were put on display and widely discussed, becoming the circus freak-shows of their time.
Fortunio Liceti had a very modern approach to such abnormalities. This is his view on the topic:
“It is said that I see the convergence of both Nature and art,’ wrote Liceti, ‘because one or the other not being able to make what they want, they at least make what they can.”
