Material Analysis

This unnamed print is made using the woodcut method, a technique that creates a stamp out of a wood block for printing (Woodcut). Produced from 1510 to 1515, the print is made on paper with dimensions 126 millimeters by 162 millimeters (Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1510-1515). In this print, created by Lucas Cranach the Elder, a werewolf is portrayed as a human that is brutally tearing apart human bodies and leaving their parts all over the place while a female and 2 children are in the background, fearing for their lives ((Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1510-1515). The werewolf is depicted as a human on all fours, wearing rags for clothes, so hungry that he has gone through multiple dismembered bodies and making off with a baby in its mouth. Though the reason the print was produced is unknown, the ragged clothes and hungry beast resemble a human willing to do anything for food, a behavior commonly seen in cannibals. Cannibalism is an instinct that “is within all of us” and is simply a survival instinct that causes human beings, in extreme situations, to eat other humans (Petrinovich, 2020). The werewolf depicted in this print could be faced with one of these extreme hunger situations, in which the survival instinct ran deeper than morality. This print further proves that beings in human form are not necessarily human and that werewolves and other beasts are simply humans corrupted by their instincts.

This second print was created using the engraving technique, a technique in which lines are carved into metal plates by tools called burins and were used as stamps for printing (Engraving). The print, by the Master of the Beheading of St John the Baptist, was produced from 1500 to 1521 on paper with dimensions of 299 millimeters by 212 millimeters (Master of the beheading of St John the Baptist, 1500-1521).  The print portrayed a naked man using a round object that causes the nearby organisms, including bears, unicorns, and lions, to attack one another. In the print as well we see that the physical form does not dictate whether one is a human or a monster. On the left, the naked humanoid figure could be considered a monster as they are forcing other beings to attack each other against their will. Furthermore, unicorns were seen as the phantasmic form of desire and love and were commonly engraved or carved as details in tapestries or in fountains, following the medieval thought that monsters were the forms humans took when affected by their emotions (Makhlouf, 2022).While the emotions resound in the inner mind, a “bedroom mystery,” when provoked or intensified by a substance, the emotions can cause the being to become monstrous (Makhlouf, 2022).In the print, a substance can be seen coming out of the round object causing the other organisms to become violent. Similarly, substances like aphrodisiacs and alcohol can cause people to act on their sexual urges and become violent while doing so (Dumbili, 2016). This only furthers the point on which monsters are humans at their worst when blinded by their emotions, especially when stimulated by other substances and people.

This third print was made using the engraving technique as well and was printed on paper with dimensions of 79 millimeters by 110 millimeters (Raimondi, 1500-1510). Created by Marcantonio Raimondi and produced from 1500 to 1510, the print depicts Saint Margaret walking while holding her right hand above the head of a creature resembling a dragon (Raimondi, 1500-1510). In this print, we see an organism that would normally be considered a monster by appearance be treated without fear by Saint Margaret. The medieval churches were respected and exhibited power and authority that was the distinct authority that was different from those that kings exhibited (Cotts, 2015). Since Saint Margaret shows no fear when near the dragon, it can be seen that she doesn’t see it as a monster but rather as a companion and as a member of the respectable church, her beliefs and actions would reflect those of the church. The dragon, had it been viewed as monstrous, would have behaved violently, and similar to how we as humans do not place our hands in front of sharks, Saint Margaret would not have placed her hand so calmly above the dragon had she seen it as monstrous. Thus the conclusion could be drawn that the church, a group with power and authority during the time period, believed that physical appearance did not determine monsters, something to be feared, by their physical appearance.