Curious Beasts: Animal Prints from the British Museum

'A proper menagerie of illustrated beasties, taken from the print collection of the British Museum. There's a rather handsome porcupine, a scary-looking pig, and all manner of lesser-known creatures. ...A fun little book with broad appeal' - The Bookseller

A beautiful book of animal prints drawn from the British Museum's permanent collection

In the visual arts of the fifteenth to the early nineteenth centuries in Europe, animals were understood in relation to the human world, whether as animals of the farm, estate or household, beasts of burden or as diversions in menageries and travelling shows. At the same time, rapidly increasing investigation of the natural world engaged artists in the problems of accurate representation: prints were particularly important in distributing natural historical information (or misinformation) across a wide, international audience.

This beautifully illustrated book which accompanied the British Museum's touring exhibition, Curious Beasts: Animal Prints from Dürer to Goya, explores perceptions of the natural world as seen through the eyes of artists including Goya, Stubbs and Bewick. Drawn from the British Museum's exceptional collection of classical old master prints, book illustrations, satires and popular prints, this book is beautiful, entertaining and intriguing.

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