Beached Whale Images in Sixteenth-Century Antwerp

This book examines a small group of sixteenth-century Antwerp artworks depicting the butchering of beached whales, revealing how these images represent a pivotal moment in European attitudes toward nature. It argues that these "e;cetaceous units"e;-iconographic compounds showing humans dominating marine mammals-served as powerful symbols of humanity's relationship with the ocean and the natural wo...