Have you ever wondered what would have happened if humans had evolved from any other animal than monkeys, let’s say from a bull or lion or my personal favorite would be from a giraffe?! – Well, in Baroque Europe, artists, thinkers, philosophers gave quite a thought of the relation between the human physiognomy and evolution. One of these thinkers was Charles Le Brun, a 17th Century French painter, declared by the Louis XIV himself “the greatest French artist of all time”. Le Brun was a dominant figure in 17th-century French art and art theory.
Le Brun was a fine portraitist and an excellent draughtsman, but he was not fond of portrait or landscape painting, which he felt to be a mere exercise in developing technical prowess. Le Brun was deeply fascinated by the physiognomy and later took an interest in the study of the human physiognomy or more precisely in the relationship and the connection between the person’s character and his facial features. By taking the further exploration of this scientific field, Le Brun was curious to know how humans would have looked had they evolved from different animals.
So, he did impressive series of drawings entitled De la physionomie humaine et Animale (or The Human’s and animals physiognomy). The drawings give a perfect idea of how some of us would look like if we had evolved from a camel or owl or eagle.
1.Owl
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the owl. Source Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
2. Donkey
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the donkey Source Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
3. Wild boar
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the wild boar Source Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
4. Fox.
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the fox. Source Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
5.Monkey
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the monkey Source Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
6.Eagle
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the eagleSource Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
7.Lion
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the lion Source Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
8.Rabbit
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the rabbit Source Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
9.Camel
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the camel Source Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
10.Bull
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the bull Source Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
11. Mountain Goat.
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the mountain goat Source Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
12.Cat
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the mountain cat Source Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
13.Raccoon.
Lithograph illustrating the relation of the human face to that of the racoon Source Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
14.Parrot and Lynx.
The bizarre thing about these drawings is the fact they look more realistic that you would have imagined, and I swear that some of these drawings reminded me of some people I know.