SIRENA
"The sirens are deadly animals. They have from the head to the navel the shape of a woman, powerful in size, cruel face with long hair and a fine head. But they appear with their feet/flippers, which they carry in their arms, because with the feet/flippers they point to their breasts, which they have big on their chests. When the shipmen see them, they are almost afraid. So they throw her a cringle (like a sort of hoop for ropes of the sail to pass through -Imi), with which she plays until the ship can sail away."
As I mentioned in a previous post, these collaborations that Imi (@mythical.creaturologist) and I are doing are inspired by creatures collected in Chet Van Duzer's excellent book Sea Monsters On Medieval and Renaissance Maps.
Imi's version of the sirena.
I got my copy in the gift shop of the Morgan Library during an exhibition called Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders in 2019. There was only one sea monster map in that exhibit but the book really spoke to me.
Chet Van Duzer's book and the source illustration from Hortus Sanitatis.
Imi's version of the sirena.
I got my copy in the gift shop of the Morgan Library during an exhibition called Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders in 2019. There was only one sea monster map in that exhibit but the book really spoke to me.
Most of the creatures from the illuminated texts in the Morgan Library were terrestrial creatures and the entire show really sparked my interest in drawing from visual reference as opposed to how I usually draw from literary reference.
The one map they did have on display was Abraham Ortelius's map of Iceland from 1598. I actually got to see a copy of this map in The Culture House in Reykjavik when I was in Iceland the year before.
Tomorrow's is the only creature from this week that's not humanoid and it may be my favorite one!
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