A Treatise on Painting/Chapter 353
Chap. CCCLIII.—How to make an imaginary Animal appear natural.
It is evident that it will be impossible to invent any animal without giving it members, and these members must individually resemble those of some known animal.
If you wish, therefore, to make a chimera, or imaginary animal, appear natural (let us suppose a serpent); take the head of a mastiff, the eyes of a cat, the ears of a porcupine, the mouth of a hare, the brows of a lion, the temples of an old cock, and the neck of a sea tortoise[1].
- ↑ Leonardo da Vinci was remarkably fond of this kind of invention, and is accused of having lost a great deal of time that way.