A miscellaneous plate featured in Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, vol. XLV (1775). The second illustration depicts the mermaid “taken in the Gulph of Stanchio".
Featured on PDR in the essay Mermaids and Tritons in the Age of Reason
For much of the eighteenth century, Western intellectuals chased after tritons and mermaids. Vaughn Scribner follows the hunt, revealing how humanity’s supposed aquatic ancestors became wondrous screens on which to project theories of geographical, racial, and taxonomical difference.
Also appearing in the essay…
Mermaid “taken in the Gulph of Stanchio".
Date
1775
From
Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, vol. XLV
Image Size
1400 x 767