See the whale? It has a fish face. It has a fish backbone and tail (bending from side to side rather than flexing up and down). But it has breasts. The person drawing this clearly knew the whale was a mammal and put the most obvious secondary sexual characteristic (of human mammals) on it to prove it. Yet he drew it as a fish, as though he hadn't looked at it closely. Pressure to please his fans, who probably thought whales were fish? Didn't pay attention? Never saw the actual scene but had it described by a whale fisherman who knew what sort of animal he was catching?
What a fascinating drawing.
6 comments:
Is the photo in the post the best resolution you have for it?
Pretty much, although there's a little bit missing to the right. I'll email you my copy and it will be a bit less jpg-lossy for you. I noticed afterwards it also has a beard - two mammal secondary sexual characteristics! I'd think someone had made it up except Dover isn't that oblique.
Thanks! darwinsbulldog@gmail.com
I never received an email with the illustration....? Thanks..
Check out the Wikipedia page for the history of whaling:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_whaling
This picture is amazing, You can get a lot of information of this one. because I think that back in that time they need emphasize their point of view.
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