You may not recognize all of the East Indian marine species portrayed in the first known book on fish to be published in color. It's not a lack of ichthyological proficiency on your part. Rather, it's because all of the species depicted in Louis Renard's Poissons received some level of artistic embellishment - and approximately 9% are completely fantastical.
If that's not strange enough, the work is produced by a man who identified himself as a 'secret agent on behalf of the British Crown' and contains a portrait of a mermaid.
0 comment(s):
Post a Comment