Name/Title
CE 1600 Ulisse Aldrovandi, Mythical and Composite Birds, from OrnithologiaeDescription
Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522–1605)
From Ornithologiae
Bologna, c. 1599–1600
Woodcuts and letterpress on paper
Three-leaf group
These three leaves come from Ulisse Aldrovandi’s extensive study of birds and include woodcuts representing creatures derived from classical mythology and earlier natural-historical traditions. Among the subjects represented are composite beings conventionally identified with griffins, sphinxes, harpies, and other creatures combining avian, mammalian, and human anatomical features.
Aldrovandi was a Bolognese naturalist whose collections and publications formed one of the major natural-historical projects of the late Renaissance. His method encompassed specimens and direct observations but also textual traditions inherited from ancient and medieval authors. Creatures now categorized as mythological consequently appear within the same encyclopedic project as recognizable birds.
Their inclusion does not mean that all such creatures were treated as equally well established. Early natural histories frequently preserved disputed reports and textual traditions in order to document and evaluate the accumulated literature concerning the natural world.
These leaves are particularly useful for understanding the unstable boundary between zoology, textual scholarship, and the study of marvelous or purported creatures around 1600.Create Date
July 18, 2026Update Date
September 5, 2026
