This Is How Medieval Artists Painted Elephants (They Had Apparently Never Seen an Elephant)

Imagine a four-legged beast with no knee joints that cannot lie down and has to sleep leaning against a tree. An animal with a long, skinny trumpet for a nose. A creature large enough that one can build entire castles on its back. It lives for 300 years and is afraid of mice. Its mortal enemy is the dragon. It must “travel to the East, near Paradise, where the mandrake grows” when it comes time to mate. Now draw this thing.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

This is how medieval artists painted elephants.

8 thoughts on “This Is How Medieval Artists Painted Elephants (They Had Apparently Never Seen an Elephant)”

  1. No 8 is the nearest to reality.

  2. why do most have houses and/or castes?

  3. This was obviously an awful time for art. Was it because all the talented people died of plague?

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  4. No 10 is the most realistic apart from the castle full of soldiers on its back. I guess those tiny soldiers are happy they’re up there and not down on the ground fighting that huge knight.

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  5. No, the talented people were burned on the stake by the conservatives.

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  6. To the artists defence, the vast majority of them had never seen an elephant in real, and only had the tale of a traveler as reference, travelers often exaggerated their stories. It wasn’t untill the 18th century that explorers brought artists along on their journeys.

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  7. Not realistic at all. Everybody know elephants have scaly skin.

  8. True that

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