The Bestiary Beasts

Medieval monks made beautifully illustrated encylopedias of all the known animals in the world, these were called bestiaries. However, the monks had to use their imaginations and scant descriptions to paint the many creatures they had never seen, leading to wonderful whimsical results. These paintings have inspired this range of miniatures.

In the medieval world, all animals were classed as either: beasts, fish, serpents, birds or worms. This led to some interesting outcomes, check out the hippopotamus, a horse (beast) that goes in the water (fish).