05/29/2026
📣✨ In Case You Missed It! ✨📣
We are so excited to announce the publication of Dr. Ryan Gregg's second book! His book, "Beached Whale Images in Sixteenth-Century Antwerp: Symbols of Humanity’s Dominion over the Earth", was published this past April.
Book description:
"This book examines a small group of sixteenth-century Antwerp artworks depicting the butchering of beached whales, revealing how these images represent a pivotal moment in European attitudes toward nature. It argues that these "cetaceous units"—iconographic compounds showing humans dominating marine mammals—served as powerful symbols of humanity's relationship with the ocean and the natural world more broadly, marking a transition from medieval moralizing approaches to early modern empirical investigation.
The study provides a detailed iconographical analysis of works by artists such as Herri met de Bles, Master J. K**k, Anton van den Wyngaerde, and Hendrick Goltzius. It traces the evolution of whale imagery from ancient Roman sources through medieval bestiaries to Renaissance naturalist texts, examining how flensing scenes reflected contemporary whaling practices while symbolizing Christian themes and political authority. The study incorporates ecocritical methodology to demonstrate how these images justified European exploitation of natural resources and established visual precedents for later scientific illustration. "
🎉 Congratulations Dr. Gregg! 🎉
