I notice that Retzoch, in his designs to illustrate Schiller's poem, "The Fight with the Dragon," makes the…
- Date of account
- Published 1886
- Source
- Mythical Monsters
- Reference
- Mythical Monsters · selected passage 102
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
I notice that Retzoch, in his designs to illustrate Schiller's poem, "The Fight with the Dragon," makes the monster have only two fore-legs, and this appears to have been a common mediæval conception of it
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyI notice that Retzoch, in his designs to illustrate Schiller's poem, "The Fight with the Dragon," makes the monster have only two fore-legs, and this appears to have been a common mediæval conception of it. Aldrovandus and Gesner both give figures of biped dragons. There is also a curious drawing in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1749--which is transferred into the pages of the _Encyclopædia of Philadelphia_, apparently a piracy of an English Cyclopædia, of what is styled a sea-dragon, four feet long, which stands bolt upright on two legs, and, like Barnum's mermaid, was probably a triumph of art.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis is a historical compilation of unusual-animal reports and argument. Witness testimony, repetition between publications and the author's zoological assumptions all affect independence and reliability.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares morphology, behaviour and setting while keeping misidentification, folklore, exaggeration, error and known animals available as alternatives.
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