Axial Commons Image Treasury
Black-and-white woodcut of a four-legged beast covered in overlapping scales, with a curled tail and a shaggy head, labeled The Gorgon.

The historie of foure-footed beastes. : Describing the true and liuely figure of euery beast, with a discourse of their seuerall names, conditions, kindes, vertues (both naturall and medicinall) countries of their breed, their loue and hate to mankinde, and the wonderfull worke of God in theircreation, preseruation, and destruction. Necessary for all diuines and students, because the story of euery beast is amplified with narrations out of Scriptures, fathers, phylosophers, physitians, and poets: wherein are declared diuers hyerogliphicks, emblems, epigrams, and other good histories, collected out of all the volumes of Conradus Gesner, and all other writers to this present day / By Edward Topsell.

A woodcut of a four-legged beast covered in overlapping scale-like shapes, with a curled serpentine tail, a shaggy maned head lowered to the ground, and short tufts of grass below. The black-and-white line work is hatched for shading, with the title The Gorgon inscribed above.

Artist
Edward Topsell
Date
1607
Medium
Source
Wellcome Collection
Size
4000 × 2579 px
Download full size
Public domain · Wellcome Collection marks it Public Domain Mark; made by 1607.
Rights checked 2026-11-05 · tier A · as stated by the source: Public Domain Mark (Wellcome Collection)

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): Wellcome Collection

Español: El Gorgón, animal escamoso de la Historia de los cuadrúpedos de Topsell

Un grabado en madera de un animal de cuatro patas cubierto de formas superpuestas parecidas a escamas, con una cola enroscada como de serpiente y una cabeza peluda inclinada hacia el suelo. Hay pequeños penachos de hierba abajo y el título The Gorgon aparece arriba.

Português: O Gorgon, animal escamoso da História dos quadrúpedes de Topsell

Uma xilogravura de um animal de quatro patas coberto de formas sobrepostas semelhantes a escamas, com cauda enrolada como de serpente e cabeça peluda abaixada em direção ao chão. Há pequenos tufos de grama embaixo e o título The Gorgon aparece acima.

More from Alchemy and Hidden Wisdom

Painted manuscript page with a robed figure and sun above, a brick furnace with flames, glass flasks, an alembic, and a bowl.Thesaurus thesaurorum.Engraving of apes doing human chores in a workshop with a furnace, a pot on a hearth, and a village street visible at right.ApenspelEngraving of two alchemists in a cluttered laboratory with brick furnaces, stills and flasks, with German verse text below.Two alchemists seeming to produce gold from a furnace; the accompanying text satirises thoWatercolour of a winged, haloed androgynous figure holding a round mirror beside trees, a lake and hills, with a printed text block below.The Hermetic androgyne; representing the stages of the alchemical Work in One. WatercolourHand-painted manuscript page with alchemical scenes: a brick furnace with flames and smoke, glass flasks labeled distillatio, and two figures in a landscape.Thesaurus thesaurorum.Woodcut alchemical emblem on a book page: a tall tiered figure with sun and moon symbols, clouds at top, and small figures around a base.D.O.M.A. Alchymia Andreae Libavii, recognita, emendata, et aucta, tum dogmatibus et experi