Recently, I was asked to participate in contemporary art collaboration. I was not only asked to perform a bit, but to also read a bit of my book and to collaborate with a local artist in some way.
Now, the major theme of my book is that many monstrous myths have a kernel a fact behind them. In 1512, a deformed child was born on Ravenna. This birth was recorded and Pope Julius II ordered the child starved. Within months, the child became known as ‘The Monster of Ravenna’. Now, I believe the reason why this very real child became a monster so quickly was because when the story travelled, it of course mutated, but also described in terms most common people could understand. This was of course a time before television, radio, and readily available literature. As a result, animalistic characteristics were often used as reference. Many took the descriptions too literal.
I thought I would give the artist – one Peter Mihaichuck – a description of ‘The Monster’ recorded by a travelling apothecary as he travelled through Ravenna in the same month of the birth. His description was based on an illustration he saw of the monster.
I was interested in seeing what Peter would come up with from the description. The results are pretty awesome.
His version:
A woodcut of The Monster as it appeared in Pare’s
Des Monstres, first published in 1573.
The similarities are pretty surprising and seem to support my hypothesis.